Although Reinforcement Missing Apartments Are Being Repaired... Residents' Anxiety Grows

The government has disclosed 15 public apartment complexes commissioned by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) where 'reinforcement bars (shear reinforcement bars) were missing' in underground parking lots with flat slab structures, increasing anxiety among residents of the affected complexes.

Temporary reinforcement structures have been installed in the underground parking lot of Namyangju Byeollae First Foret Apartment, where it was revealed that the underground parking lot reinforcement bars were missing. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

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LH plans to complete reinforcement work by the end of September for six complexes, excluding three complexes where recent measures have already been completed, after conducting detailed safety inspections. For the remaining six complexes where construction is ongoing, reinforcement work is scheduled to be finished before residents move in.

However, the construction industry agrees that reinforcement work alone may not be enough to ease residents' concerns.

In particular, critics point out that the government’s investigation was limited to underground parking lots built with flat slab structures and only examined the reinforcement bars in the columns, making it a half-hearted inspection. They also emphasized that since the cause of collapse is not only in the columns but also in the slabs, those should have been inspected as well.

The underground parking lot of Namyangju Byeollae First Foret Apartment, where reinforcing steel bars were found to be missing. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

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An industry insider said, “The amount of reinforcement bars in the columns is small, and they are neither thick nor long, so the possibility of missing reinforcement bars is low,” adding, “To check whether reinforcement bars are missing, the slabs need to be inspected.”

It is an unwritten rule among contractors and subcontractors not to reduce reinforcement bars in columns when cutting costs, as the quantity is small and the price is relatively low.

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If the number of reinforcement bars is reduced to save construction costs, it is usually the thick and long reinforcement bars in the slabs?typically one or two?that are cut. Although the number seems small, since thousands of slabs are constructed in one complex, the total number of missing reinforcement bars is enormous.

However, the construction industry emphasizes that missing reinforcement bars are unlikely to be the direct cause of collapse accidents. On-site, slab reinforcement bars are sometimes omitted due to spatial constraints differing from the design, but no significant problems have occurred so far.

The lack of inspections on the apartments themselves is also causing anxiety among residents. Concerns about missing reinforcement bars have been steadily raised in some online communities for over two years since reinforcement bar prices began to rise. What was once dismissed as unlikely has now been confirmed in these 15 LH-commissioned public apartment complexes. As a result, some residents are calling for a full investigation of not only the underground parking lots but the entire complexes.

A resident of the Suseo Station Area A-3BL block, where move-ins are underway, said, “The construction company that built the underground parking lot also constructed the apartments, so how can we trust them?” and insisted, “The apartments need to be investigated as well.” If a comprehensive investigation of the apartments proceeds, the missing reinforcement bar issue could potentially expand further.

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