Government and PPP plan to give people scheduled to move into “rebar-less” apartments the right to terminate contract

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong (center) reaches out to shake hands with President Yoon Suk-yeol’s chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki, before a meeting between senior officials in the government and the People Power Party at the prime minister’s residence in Jongno-gu, Seoul on August 2. Next to Minister Won, Lee Han-jun, president of the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) bows to greet Kim. Kwon Do-hyun

On August 2, the People Power Party (PPP) and the government decided to grant people scheduled to move into the apartments built without reinforcing bars the right to terminate their contracts. As for an inspection by the National Assembly, they will promote it, if necessary, after government measures, such as a total inspection.

On Wednesday, the government and the PPP held an emergency meeting of senior officials at the prime minister’s residence in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu and discussed measures to resolve the latest problem. In a briefing shortly after the meeting, People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jung-jae, the PPP secretary in the parliamentary Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, said, “Based on the results of a total inspection, we will actively seek ways for the scheduled residents to claim compensation for damages at a level they can be satisfied with through discussions with the resident representatives and grant them the right to terminate their contracts without any restrictions when purchasing another newly developed apartment, not to mention ensure building reinforcement and punishment of the people responsible.”

The Fair Trade Commission will conduct an ex officio investigation on any collusion among the architectural firms and supervision service providers and on any unfair subcontracting. The PPP will also promote amendments of five bills to restore normal operation in construction sites: the Framework Act on the Construction Industry, the Construction Machinery Management Act, the Act on the Persons Performing the Duties of Judicial Police Officers and the Scope of Their Duties, the Fair Hiring Procedure Act, and the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. They plan to take this opportunity to speed up the amendment of these five bills, to eliminate the “construction gangs” President Yoon Suk-yeol mentioned earlier when referring to the construction union.

The government and the PPP decided to review a possible parliamentary inspection, if necessary, through a task force to investigate the problem after a total inspection is completed and government measures are implemented. As for the fifteen complexes where problems were confirmed, they will swiftly complete the building reinforcement and finalize the details of a total inspection of all private apartments by the end of the week and complete inspections by the end of next month. Lawmaker Kim said, “We will thoroughly investigate the wrong practices and illegal activities that occurred in the previous government and seek fundamental solutions,” and added, “Based on the results of a general inspection of all private apartments, we will announce measures to ensure overall safety of flat slabs and to eliminate the cartel of interests in the construction industry.”

In Wednesday’s meeting, floor leader Yun Jae-ok was present from the PPP, while from the government, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo; Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong; and Lee Han-joon, president of the Korea Land & Housing Corporation were present along with the president’s chief of staff Kim Dae-ki from the Office of the President. The presidential press secretary Kim Eun-hye explained ahead of the meeting, “President Yoon asked that we prepare sure measures in an emergency meeting of the government and PPP if necessary in yesterday’s cabinet meeting. The meeting was held accordingly.”

Earlier in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Yoon said, “All the underground parking lots built using flat slabs in apartment buildings where people currently reside had architectural design errors, were poorly constructed, and poorly supervised before our government entered office.” He stressed, “We must by all means shatter the cartel of interests that neglected the people’s safety.” He blamed the cartel of interests in the construction industry formed in the Moon Jae-in government as the fundamental cause of the poor construction of apartments.

The People Power Party joined President Yoon in blaming the former government. Party leader Kim Gi-hyeon, currently on vacation, wrote on social media Wednesday, “The two former ministers (of land, infrastructure and transport) Kim Hyun-mee and Byeon Chang-heum, who occupied the top position in the housing and construction field in the Moon Jae-in government, must clearly state before the people what in the world they were doing at the time.” He further wrote, “I will promote a parliamentary inspection to identify the true nature of the corruption by the cartel of interests in construction and to rigorously uncover the people behind it.”

The PPP leader went on to criticize the housing policy of the Moon Jae-in government. He accused LH of spending hundreds of millions of won to “stage a show where former president Moon Jae-in visited public rental apartments,” and accused LH of distorting the housing market by going against the demand for housing and focusing on rental housing when the people wanted to own homes. Park Dae-chul, head of the PPP policy committee wrote on social media, “The construction of public housing using flat slabs was mainly introduced in 2017 (when the Moon Jae-in government launched),” and argued, “It was a policy failure caused by a rash plan to supply public rental housing according to the Moon Jae-in government’s housing welfare plan.”

The People Power Party will gather a task force led by lawmaker Kim Jung-jae and hold the first meeting on August 4. In a meeting with the press on Wednesday, the party’s floor leader said, “Given that apartments missing reinforcing bars were discovered not long after former and incumbent LH employees were reported for land speculation, it leaves us no choice but to wonder if there was a serious flaw in the Moon Jae-in government’s management of housing construction projects,” and called for the need to investigate figures in Moon Jae-in’s Cheongwadae.

A meeting of senior officials in the government and the People Power Party was held at the prime minister’s residence in Jongno-gu, Seoul on August 2. Kwon Do-hyun

However, Kim Gi-hyeon, the head of the party, and Yun, the leader on the parliamentary floor, showed a slight difference in views on a parliamentary inspection in Wednesday’s meeting with the government. Whereas Kim expressed his determination to promote a parliamentary inspection, Yun said that given the urgency of the issue, they should first launch a task force and review the need for a parliamentary inspection later, after the government has conducted the general inspection and the Board of Audit and Inspection has performed an audit. From Yun’s position, if he hastily calls for a parliamentary inspection, he could fail to gain actual benefits and only fuel demands from the Democratic Party for a parliamentary inspection into the expressway between Seoul and Yangpyeong. In the end, the PPP and the government decided to leave the discussion on the parliamentary inspection to a future time.

The Democratic Party of Korea fought back and argued that President Yoon was responsible for the poor construction. According to a report on policy issues prepared by the party’s policy committee for the party leadership including the leader, Lee Jae-myung, thirteen of the fifteen apartment complexes commissioned by LH where rebars were missing had either undergone construction or completed construction after the Yoon Suk-yeol government entered office. In a press briefing at the National Assembly Wednesday, Kwon Chil-seung, the Democratic Party’s senior spokesperson said, “President Yoon eagerly blamed the previous government and called to eradicate cartels again in connection with the apartments with missing steel bars.” He continued and criticized, “President Yoon has not once shown that he feels any responsibility for the Itaewon crowd crush and the tragic incident in the Osong underpass, which are cited as man-made and government-made disasters.”

In the briefing, Kim Hee-seo, senior spokesperson for the Justice Party said, “The people are worried because of ‘boneless’ apartments and the first thing the president and the ruling party can do is blame someone else. Are they out of their minds?” Kim continued and said, “President Yoon and the People Power Party should stop ridiculing the people by trying to gloss over the problem and promptly present reforms aiming at the center of the cartel of interests between construction capital and government and political figures, immediately starting with measures to secure the safety of the people and prevent a repeat of such problems.”