"LH Apartment Collapsed, Still Unknown Who Removed the Rebar" (Comprehensive)

Kim Heon-dong "Collapse of Supervision System Due to LH Favoritism"
SH Actively Prevents Poor Construction with 'Seoul-type Supervision'

"An apartment built by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) collapsed, yet no one knows how many reinforcing bars were missing, why they were missing, or who removed them. To break the vested interest cartel that causes poor construction, LH must disclose the sales cost and reform so that experts can thoroughly review the design and quality."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 8th, Kim Heon-dong, President of Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH), pointed out the collapse of the supervision system due to preferential treatment of former officials related to LH, which recently faced controversy over missing reinforcing bars, and launched strong criticism.

President Kim said, "LH apartments are collapsing, but SH apartments have never collapsed," highlighting that SH adopts a post-sale method after construction and has a properly functioning supervision system, whereas LH has lax supervision due to preferential treatment tied to various bribes involving former officials.

In fact, in Andante, Geomdan New Town, Incheon, the total supervision fee was 2.96% of the total construction cost, much higher than the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's basic building supervision fee of 0.84%, yet a collapse accident occurred. President Kim said, "Since LH supervision is more profitable than the private sector, former officials set up companies to win these contracts," adding, "Therefore, on-site supervision is invisible, with supervisors only receiving fees without proper monitoring."

SH Corporation plans to introduce the 'Seoul-type supervision' for more effective and substantial supervision operations. President Kim said, "We judged that improving the supervision system, which manages and oversees whether construction is carried out according to design documents, is urgent to secure construction quality, enhance on-site safety management, and prevent poor construction." He added, "Supervisors represent the people who purchase apartments and are responsible for quality and safety," and said, "We plan to introduce a system where supervisors with excellent skills who oversee quality are hired and paid directly by the construction company." He emphasized, "Additionally, we will design the supervision system so that supervision companies cannot intercept fees in the middle."

Since his days as an activist with the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, President Kim has emphasized housing and construction reform, pointing out that the current structure, where supervision costs are paid by developers and supervisors receive money from construction companies, inevitably makes supervisors deferential to construction companies.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

After the press briefing, President Kim toured the underground parking lot of the 23rd complex of Wirye Foret Shine in Songpa-gu, where a drop panel flat slab structure was applied, with reporters.

An SH Corporation official explained, "The drop panel flat slab structure is more advantageous in preventing punching shear phenomena than a structure supported only by columns." Punching shear refers to a phenomenon where holes are punched due to misaligned forces pressing from above and pushing from below. To prevent this, reinforcing bars called stirrups are installed, and so-called 'bare-bone apartments' are those missing these reinforcing bars.

Following the collapse accident in the underground parking lot of an apartment in Geomdan New Town, Incheon, in April this year, SH Corporation also conducted a full investigation of buildings applying flat slab structures that had been problematic.

President Kim said, "To prevent poor construction and break the construction vested interest cartel, we are implementing post-sale systems, direct construction systems, appropriate wage systems, and high-quality housing," adding, "We will continue to seek and implement innovative policies to improve citizens' residential environments and contribute to the advancement of the construction industry, so we ask for your interest."

Meanwhile, on the same day, SH Corporation announced that the sales cost of the A1-5BL complex (named Forena Songpa) in Wirye New Town, Songpa-gu, was estimated at 12.36 million KRW per 3.3㎡.

The A1-5BL in Wirye New Town sold a total of 1,282 households, with an average sales cost of 12.361 million KRW per 3.3㎡ and a sales price of 19.894 million KRW per 3.3㎡.

The sales cost consists of the land development cost, which is the cost of land preparation, and the construction cost, which is the building cost. The average development cost of Wirye A1-5BL was 5.349 million KRW per 3.3㎡, and the construction cost was 7.012 million KRW.

The sales profit, calculated by subtracting the sales cost from the sales price, totaled 293.788 million KRW. Since Wirye New Town is a joint project with LH Corporation, SH Corporation's actual profit is estimated at 25% of this, or 73.447 million KRW.

The profit margin was 37.9%, higher than the previously disclosed sales costs of Magok 9th Complex (33.3%) and Godeok Gangil 8th Complex (33.9%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.