Court: "Failure to Comply with Correction Order Causes Structural Risk to Fortress Wall Restoration"
A court has ruled that the suspension of qualifications imposed on a cultural heritage repair technician who violated related standards and ignored correction orders during the restoration of a cultural heritage fortress is justified.
According to the legal community on the 8th, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 1 (Presiding Judge Kang Dong-hyuk) ruled against technician A in a lawsuit seeking to cancel the qualification suspension imposed by the Cultural Heritage Administration.
Technician A served as the site representative for a fortress restoration project commissioned by the Cultural Heritage Administration in 2018 and constructed approximately 60 meters until 2021. However, the Cultural Heritage Administration suspended A’s qualifications for one and a half months in January last year, citing violations of design documents and cultural heritage repair regulations, as well as failure to comply with correction orders.
A claimed that he strengthened structural stability through technical reinforcement that preserved the original form as much as possible and that he refused some correction orders that violated certain design documents for justifiable reasons, filing a lawsuit accordingly.
However, the court judged, "Despite technical advisory committee members with extensive expertise visiting the site and providing opinions, A did not follow the re-construction instructions and correction demands from the supervising contractor and the Cultural Heritage Administration, causing structural risks to the fortress restoration."
At that time, the technical advisory committee determined that the site posed a risk of collapse if the original construction method preserving the original form was used and recommended reinforcement with a different construction method. However, A insisted, saying, "There is a policy not to touch the original stones," which ultimately weakened the structural stability of the fortress.
The court evaluated, "Reinforcing with construction methods different from the original or, if necessary, replacing original stones with new materials to ensure structural stability is ultimately preserving the original form of the fortress in this case."
A argued that his company received a seven-month bidding participation restriction from the Cultural Heritage Administration and a three-month business suspension from the Governor of Gyeonggi Province as double sanctions, but the court dismissed this, stating, "Since the sanctions differ in grounds, regulations, and purposes, it is difficult to see this as imposing overlapping disadvantages."
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