State housing developer LH searched in probe into shoddy apartment construction

▲ This image shows an entrance at state-run housing developer Korea Land & Housing Corp.'s head office in Jinju, 280 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Aug. 16, 2023. (Yonhap)

construction-police probe

State housing developer LH searched in probe into shoddy apartment construction

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- Police searched the headquarters of state-run housing developer Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH) on Wednesday as part of an investigation into 15 shoddily-built public apartment complexes that were found to lack reinforcing bars.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency sent 16 investigators to the LH head office in Jinju, 280 kilometers southeast of Seoul, its South Jeolla branch and two other places to seize evidence, officials said.

The search came after it was found that 15 of the LH-built apartment complexes using the flat-slab design were constructed without sufficient reinforcing bars. A flat slab is a reinforced concrete slab supported directly by concrete columns without the use of beams.

The government launched an inspection in early August into other apartment buildings built using the construction method after the parking lot at an LH-built apartment building in Incheon, west of Seoul, collapsed in April due to a lack of reinforcing bars.

Police have since opened an investigation into the 15 shoddy LH apartment complexes, and Wednesday's search, conducted to seize evidence connected to one of them in the southwestern city of Gwangju, marks the first police search in the case.

The police agency in Gwangju plan to follow up the search by booking two construction design company officials for investigation while police are expected to conduct more office raids connected to the construction of the 14 other LH apartment complexes in other parts of the country.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved