South Korea will conduct safety inspections on all new flat-plate structure apartment complexes in the private sector after the recent collapse of a public apartment's parking lot due to a lack of reinforcing bars (rebars), the land ministry said Monday.
The comprehensive inspection will cover both recently completed and under-construction flat-plate structure apartments in the private sector to see if a sufficient amount of rebars has been used in the buildings, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.
The announcement came after the government conducted safety checks on public apartments constructed by local builders under contracts with the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH).
During the inspection sparked by the collapse of a parking lot at an LH apartment in Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, in April, 15 out of 91 flat-plate public apartment complexes were found to have an insufficient share of rebars in their columns.
The flat-plate concrete floor system does not use beams between columns, and it is usually suited for lightly loaded floors with short spans, typically for residential and hotel buildings. To ensure that the columns can withstand the load, sufficient rebars must be installed.
Following the incident, Land Minister Won Hee-ryong ordered an immediate probe to find those responsible for their design and supervision, adding it will take the "most severe disciplinary measures," as well as legal action, against them.
Of the 15 public apartment complexes built after 2017, seven are undergoing remedial work and eight await the work, the statement said.
On the same day, President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the land minister to look into all suspected cases of shoddy construction of underground parking lots at apartment complexes.
Source: Yonhap News Agency