Korea’s Yoon calls for tough measures against construction cartels

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol presides over a cabinet meeting on Aug. 1. [Photo by Yonhap]

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has blamed “interest cartels in the construction industry” for the poor construction of underground parking garages at 15 public apartments ordered by the Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) and has repeatedly demanded tough measures to tackle the matter.

“We must break the interest cartel that neglects public safety,” Yoon said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “Our government is an anti-cartel government, and no innovation and reform are possible without eliminating interest and corruption cartels.”

On the same day, Yoon directly instructed the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to take measures to eradicate interest cartels, including LH’s preferential treatment for former officials. He said that “relevant ministries should come up with measures to correct the inherent wrongful practices of the construction industry” and stressed that “strict administrative and judicial sanctions must be imposed for violations of laws.”

“I ask relevant agencies to promptly conduct a full survey of all underground parking garages in Korea that were constructed using the flat slab construction method.”

In response, the Land Ministry will shortly conduct a full survey of not only public but also private apartments nationwide that have adopted the flat slab structure. According to the ministry, there are a total of 293 private apartment complexes in the country that have been built using flat slab construction since 2017. Of these, 105 complexes are currently under construction, while 188 complexes, or 64 percent, have residents moved in already.