Apartment collapse case ruled

[Anchor]

Three years ago, in January 2022, 16 floors collapsed all at once from the top of an apartment construction site.

This is the Gwangju Hwajeong I-Park collapse incident.

Six workers died and one was injured.

At that time, Chung Mong-gyu, the chairman of Hyundai Development Company (HDC), publicly apologized and announced plans to completely demolish the apartment and rebuild it.

The prosecution then indicted 17 individuals from HDC, subcontractors, and supervisory companies on charges of professional negligence leading to death, as well as three corporations.

However, as HDC and the subcontractors engaged in a blame game, the verdict was delayed, and it was only after three years that the first trial ruling was issued.

Reporter Kim Jeong-dae reports.

[Report]

The court identified the early dismantling of the scaffolding as the cause of the apartment collapse.

When pouring concrete, support structures, known as scaffolding, should have been installed on the three lower floors, but they were removed too early, which led to an inability to withstand the load.

Additionally, the court pointed out that the method for the top floor's deck plates was changed arbitrarily without thorough review, and the additional installation of concrete supports doubled the floor load, contributing to the collapse.

Consequently, the court sentenced both the site managers from Hyundai HDC and the subcontractor to four years in prison each.

Three construction managers involved in the dismantling of the scaffolding were also sentenced to two to three years in prison each.

HDC was fined 500 million won, while the subcontractor and supervisory company received fines of 300 million won and 100 million won, respectively.

However, the former CEO of HDC and the CEO of the subcontractor were acquitted on the grounds that they could not be held responsible for the management of the accident site.

[Kwon Soon-ho/Former HDC CEO: "(You were acquitted, do you have a statement?) ..."]

In particular, the incident occurred just two weeks before the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which punishes business owners for negligence leading to human casualties, thus avoiding its application.

The apartment in question has recently completed demolition and has begun reconstruction, but if an appeal follows the first trial result, it is expected to take considerable time before a final ruling is reached.

This is KBS News, Kim Jeong-dae.