Five out of 10 buildings under construction have been abandoned for more than 15 years... Lim Ho-seon ‘Needs a practical maintenance plan’

One out of two buildings under construction was found to have been abandoned for more than 15 years.

As a result of analysis of data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and 16 metropolitan governments on the 4th by Rep. Lim Ho-seon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Safety Committee, a total of 361 construction-suspended buildings were counted with confirmed safety ratings based on the 4th actual survey conducted in September of last year.

Among these, there were 190 buildings whose construction had been suspended for more than 15 years, accounting for 52.6% of the total. After construction was suspended, there were 116 buildings that were ‘more than 20 years old or less than 30 years old’, and 17 buildings that were older than 30 years.

By safety grade, there were 22 and 5 buildings with poor (grade D) or very poor (grade E) safety conditions, respectively.

By construction use, apartment complexes accounted for 112 sites, or about 31% of the total.

Lodging facilities numbered 65, followed by single-family homes and business facilities (41 places).

By region, Gyeonggi-do (53 places) had the most, followed by Gangwon (40 places), Chungnam (32 places), Jeju (31 places), Gyeongnam (30 places), North Chungcheong (29 places), Gyeongbuk (26 places), Seoul (22 places), and Incheon (20 places).

For dangerous buildings whose construction has been halted, local governments may take measures such as demolition orders or ex officio demolition.

However, from 2022 to the end of June this year, there were only one demolition order each in Seoul, Daejeon, and Gyeongbuk.

Rep. Lim said, "If a building whose construction has been suspended for a long period of time is left unattended, it can not only cause safety issues but also create a burden on the city's aesthetics and the living environment, such as crime and fire." He added, "We need to classify facilities that require demolition and facilities that can be utilized through construction resumption or repair according to the level of risk and conditions, and prepare a practical maintenance plan."