Gwangju 'Hakdong Disaster' Appeal Trial Postponed Again... "Procedural Flaws Found"

Rescheduled to 2 p.m. on the 21st
"Omission in Defense Attorney Notification Procedure"

The sentencing for those responsible for the collapse of a building in Hakdong 4 District, Dong-gu, Gwangju, which resulted in 17 casualties during demolition, has been postponed once again in the appellate trial.

According to the Gwangju High Court on the 3rd, the Criminal Division 1 of the Gwangju High Court (Presiding Judge Park Junghoon) postponed the sentencing for seven individuals and three corporations indicted for charges including occupational negligence resulting in death, from the originally scheduled date of the 6th to 2 p.m. on the 21st.

The 'Hakdong Collapse Disaster' refers to the accident on June 9, 2021, when a five-story building with one basement floor collapsed at the demolition site in Hakdong 4 District, Gwangju, crushing a city bus, resulting in nine deaths and eight injuries.

Bouquets of flowers and handwritten letters mourning the victims are placed on the road opposite the demolition site of the collapsed building in the Hakdong4 redevelopment area, Donggu, Gwangju. Photo by Yonhap News

The court postponed the sentencing after discovering some procedural flaws during a review of the case records.

Under the Criminal Procedure Act, once the appellate court receives the records, it must immediately notify the appellant and the opposing party of the reasons, and the appellant or defense attorney must submit a statement of appeal within 20 days of being notified.

In this appellate trial, while the notification process was carried out for the appellant, it was later discovered that the newly appointed private defense attorney had not been properly notified.

Accordingly, the appellate court decided to re-notify the defense attorney and postponed the sentencing to guarantee a 20-day period for submitting the statement of appeal.

Previously, the appellate court had already postponed the sentencing once to protect the defendant's right to defense after accepting a request from the defense attorney representing Hyeonsan for a resumption of pleadings.

The defendants, including representatives from Hyeonsan, subcontractors, and supervisors, were indicted for causing the accident by ignoring the demolition plan or neglecting their supervisory duties.

In the first trial, the CEO of Baeksol Construction was sentenced to three years and six months in prison and taken into custody along with two others, while the remaining four received suspended sentences.

In this appellate trial, the prosecution requested even heavier sentences than in the first trial, seeking up to seven years and six months for the CEO of the subcontractor Baeksol and the Hyeonsan site manager, and up to a 50 million won fine for each corporation.