[Supervision, Their Own Cartel]② Favoritism for Former Officials and Self-Supervision... The Ineffective LH-Style Supervision

LH's Overreach Fails Its Role
Many Retirees Work at Directly Selected Supervision Firms
Three Deficient Complexes Supervised Directly

"Compliant with relevant laws and design documents."

This is the content written in the "Supervision Completion Report" of recently detected apartment complexes with poor construction due to missing rebar (reinforcement bars) in underground parking lots. Among the 15 complexes built under the order of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), 9 complexes excluding 6 under construction fall under this category. Five complexes that received completion approval last year have all completed move-in, and three complexes approved for completion in the first half of this year are currently undergoing move-in.

The remaining one complex has also received completion approval and will start move-in at the end of this month. Among these apartments, some had over 80% of the required rebar missing (Osan Segyo 2 A6 Block, Eumseong Geumseok A2 Block). Investigations are still ongoing for two locations, Gongju Wolseong A4 Block and Asan Tangjeong 2-A14 Block.

To obtain building completion approval, a "Supervision Completion Report" must be submitted to the licensing authority. During construction, quarterly interim supervision reports must be prepared and submitted, and supervisors must write daily supervision logs. These are mandatory requirements specified in Article 25 of the Building Act and Article 19 of the Enforcement Rules of the same Act. If the supervision completion report contains opinions such as non-compliance or defects, completion approval cannot be granted until corrections are made.

Numerous Cases of Favoritism and Penalty-Point Companies Selected

LH pointed to design or construction issues as the cause of poor construction in these apartments. However, the construction industry points out that the root cause is "systemic failure" where all processes from the client, designer, contractor, to supervisor failed to perform their roles. In particular, they highlight LH’s excessive authority and the completely ineffective supervision as problems.

Supervision refers to the role of checking on-site whether the contractor is building according to the design. However, at sites ordered by LH, it is said to be "meaningless." For supervision to function properly, it is crucial not to be influenced by the client or contractor, but LH either conducts supervision itself or selects and contracts supervision companies. In fact, among the poorly constructed complexes that received completion approval, three (Suseo Station Area A-3BL Block, Suwon Dangsu A3 Block, Gongju Wolseong A4 Block) were supervised directly by LH.

Especially, LH leaves many suspicions in the selection of supervision companies. It is known that supervision companies involving former LH employees receiving preferential treatment and companies that have been penalized participated in the supervision of problematic apartments, causing controversy.

According to data received from the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ), Gwangjang Architectural Office, known to employ many former LH retirees, was the supervision company for two of the 15 complexes with missing rebar (Chungnam Provincial Government Relocation New Town RH11 Block, Osan Segyo 2 A6 Block). This company also supervised the Gwangju Hwajeong-dong I-Park, where a collapse accident occurred last year, and the Incheon Geomdan apartment whose underground parking lot collapsed in April. Additionally, Mokyang Comprehensive Architectural Office supervised three complexes (Namyangju Byeollae A25 Block, Asan Tangjeong 2-A14 Block, Yangsan Sasong A-8BL Block), and Dain Group Engineering Architectural Office was responsible for supervising Yangju Hoecheon A15 Block, where all 154 columns had missing rebar.

Among the companies involved in supervising the complexes with missing rebar, some had been penalized for poor supervision. Mokyang Comprehensive Architectural Office, suspected of preferential treatment, received 3.83 penalty points for poor supervision over the past five years, ranking second highest among all supervision companies. Muyeong CM, which received 2.41 penalty points, was responsible for supervising Paju Unjeong 3 A23 Block.

Low Salaries for Supervisors, Only 14.5% of Sites Meet Staffing Requirements

The proliferation of supervision companies without proper qualifications is also identified as a problem. According to the construction industry, to check for issues during design or construction, supervisors with proficiency and technical skills must be hired, but their salaries are lower compared to design and construction companies, so most are re-employed retirees.

An official from a small supervision company said, "Although work has increased significantly due to the real estate market boom in recent years, it is difficult to hire personnel because of low salaries," adding, "As long as they have an architect license, they are hired regardless of age or reputation." He continued, "Even among licensed individuals, most lack on-site experience," and added, "For proper supervision, the industry ecosystem must change to attract professionals."

According to data submitted by LH to the National Assembly last year, only 24 out of 166 LH construction sites (14.5%) met the legal supervision staffing standards.