[2026 Audit] Oh Sehoon: "Land Ministry Faces Hundreds of Millions of Won in Daily Damages for GTX Project Delay... Six Months Wasted"

Allegation that construction was rushed to meet the local election schedule
"The party that needs to move construction forward quickly is the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport."

Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon said on October 19, "If the non-stop passage of GTX-A continues beyond August this year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will have to pay the project operator damages amounting to hundreds of millions of won per day," adding, "The parties with an interest in moving construction forward quickly are the ministry and Korea National Railway, not the Seoul Metropolitan Government."

Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon answers questions from lawmakers during a parliamentary audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government by the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee at Seoul City Hall on the 19th. Yonhap News Agency

At an audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government by the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee at Seoul City Hall that afternoon, Mayor Oh made the remarks in response to an allegation by Jo Incheol of the Democratic Party of Korea that the construction had been rushed to meet the local elections schedule. "That is completely untrue," he said.

Jo also asked, "This is a safety issue. Was it really something that could be dealt with so briefly, with just three lines in the report?"

Kim Seongbo, Seoul's Second Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs, said the city became aware of the missing rebar on November 10, 2025, and reported it to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on November 13. "We judged it to be a construction error and filed a report in accordance with the manual. This is the approach agreed upon by the ministry, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Korea National Railway," he said.

Rep. Eom Taeyoung challenged the ministry's response, saying, "In May, the ministry, Korea National Railway, and 20 outside experts inspected the site and found that the concrete strength met the design standards and that train vibrations were at 10% to 50% of the management standard." He asked, "What technical basis did the government have for changing its judgment after confirming the structure's safety and even resuming test runs?"

Mayor Oh also said, "Even when the results of the Korea Concrete Institute's study come out at the end of December, no exceptional measures will be proposed beyond the steel plate reinforcement method that has already been discussed." He criticized the authorities for "needlessly wasting six months." He added, "I believe the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which deliberately delayed decision-making, must take responsibility for compensating SG Rail."

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