Seoul City Knew of Missing GTX Rebar But Failed to Report to Ministry

Seoul City has been found to have never reported to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) the fact that rebar was omitted during construction at the GTX-A line's Samsung Station site, even after becoming aware of the issue. Seoul City held 17 meetings with MOLIT regarding this matter but did not share information related to the shoddy construction. Since November 10 last year, when Hyundai Engineering & Construction reported the rebar omission to Seoul City, the omission was not conveyed to MOLIT during the 17 meetings Seoul City attended concerning the construction project.

MOLIT stated that during an interim inspection meeting held from November 25-27 last year, it conducted the site inspection based on the original drawings because Seoul City did not disclose the rebar construction errors. In this meeting, Seoul City and others recorded 50 supplementary points across six areas, such as 'removal of finishing tape' and 'waterproofing reinforcement,' but the rebar omission was not reported.

Yoon Kun-young, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out that Seoul City's complete silence on the rebar, a fundamental aspect of structural safety, appears to be an attempt to conceal the facts.

Kim Sung-bo, acting mayor of Seoul City, countered that the construction management report containing the rebar omission details was first sent to the Korea National Railway on November 13 last year, and subsequent progress on reinforcement review and detailed construction plans were communicated via official documents six times. He expressed regret that MOLIT was causing public anxiety.