Democratic Party leader Jung Cheong-rae said on Wednesday that "those who must take responsibility should clearly be held accountable" for the collapse of the Seosomun overpass in Seoul and the missing reinforcing bars at the Samsung Station complex transit center on the Great Train Express (GTX)-A line.
Jung made the remarks at an emergency forum titled "Is Seoul's Safety Really All Right?" held at the National Assembly and hosted by the Democratic Party's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and Public Administration and Security Committee. "We must thoroughly investigate the causes of the Seosomun accident and the missing rebar at GTX Samsung Station so that such incidents never happen again," he said.
"It is devastating that 30 years after the 1994 collapse of Seongsu Bridge and the 1995 collapse of Sampoong Department Store, these kinds of accidents are still being repeated," he said. "We must reexamine the society-wide safety management system from top to bottom."
Jung also noted that the day marked the 10th anniversary of the Guui Station screen door accident, pointing to the structural problem of prioritizing cost and efficiency over safety. "There have been institutional improvements such as the revision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the two-person team principle, but in the field, cost savings still often take precedence over human lives," he said. "These recent accidents are likely not unrelated to that structure."
He also said that experts had recently told him that laws regarding the demolition of social overhead capital (SOC) infrastructure are virtually nonexistent, raising the need for legislative supplementation. "I was shocked to hear that there is no law on SOC demolition," Jung said. "Through this forum, we will carefully review everything from immediate measures to medium- and long-term tasks."
"The Democratic Party will take the lead with legislation and policies to build a safe Republic of Korea," he added. "Not only must measures to prevent recurrence be put in place, but accountability for the accidents must also be thoroughly established."
