Strengthening Underground Safety Management
Comprehensive Plan Established and Full Implementation Begins
Yangsan City in South Gyeongsang Province has established and begun implementing a comprehensive plan to strengthen underground safety management, prompted by recent ground subsidence incidents in Myeongil-dong, Seoul and Iljik-dong, Gwangmyeong.
This initiative goes beyond the legal obligations set by the Special Act on Underground Safety Management enacted in 2018, serving as a proactive measure to ensure citizen safety.
Through this plan, Yangsan City aims to reduce blind spots in underground safety within its jurisdiction and prevent major accidents in advance.
The main measures include: joint safety inspections of large construction sites with external experts; expanding the scope of underground facility safety inspections and conducting special inspections such as leak detection; and strengthening cooperation systems with relevant agencies.
Notably, all eight sites submitted by Yangsan City were selected for the "ground survey" project conducted by the Korea Infrastructure Safety and Technology Corporation in 2025 to prevent ground subsidence. This is the highest number of sites selected in South Gyeongsang Province and is seen as evidence of Yangsan City's active commitment to ground safety.
In addition, Yangsan City will strengthen safety management of water supply and sewage facilities, which are considered major causes of ground subsidence. For water supply facilities, regular safety diagnoses and inspections are being conducted. In the sewage sector, the city is working on the basic and detailed design for the maintenance of 18.4 kilometers of aging sewer pipes that are over 20 years old.
The city is also preparing a maintenance project for sewer pipes in rural areas (total length of 3.57 kilometers) and is making every effort to secure national funding for the interceptor sewer maintenance project. In the event of a ground subsidence accident, the city plans to strengthen its initial response through thorough reporting and a prompt situation management system.
Furthermore, from a long-term perspective, the city is considering introducing underground safety expert consulting for large construction sites that are not subject to evaluation under the Special Act on Underground Safety Management but are considered at risk for ground subsidence.
An official from Yangsan City stated, "By strengthening underground safety management, we will proactively respond to ground subsidence accidents and do our utmost to create an urban environment where citizens can feel safe."
Yangsan City Hall.
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