Seoul City on Monday issued its final warning to Lotte Group for its “negligent countermeasures” in response to more than 10 safety accidents at its newly opened shopping complex in Jamsil, southern Seoul.
Officials stressed the site could be forced to shut down should the conglomerate fail to cooperate with the city’s orders.
“We ask Lotte to cooperate with three things,” said Jin Hee-son from the city’s housing and construction bureau.
“We ask for a control tower that monitors the entire property of Lotte World Mall every day, as well as an efficient disaster management system consisting of experts. We also call on Lotte to deal with the media as soon as possible should accidents occur.”
The lower floors of the 123-story skyscraper were opened to the public in October, with permission granted by Seoul City, while the upper levels are still under construction.
Since the opening, 13 safety incidents have occurred at the property, including a water leak at its aquarium, cracks in the concrete and a faulty movie screen leading to the theater having to shut down for safety inspections.
Last month, a worker was found dead at the construction site of the skyscraper, which will be the tallest building in South Korea once completed in 2016.
In spite of the high number of accidents, Jin from the Seoul City insisted that no “structural faults” were found during the inspection held by the city government, and Lotte’s poor handling of the media following the incidents have overly aggravated citizens’ anxiety over safety.
For example, when a fracture was found on the floor of the underground parking garage of the mall last week, Jin said Lotte made the public unnecessarily anxious by not sharing the problem with the media immediately.
“There were no structural problems and the crack was caused by the surface drying with the change of temperature,” Jin said.
“And the lack of information often makes the public more concerned (than they should be). I don’t think Lotte was trying to hide anything. They just dealt with the media very poorly.”
Lotte Group, South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, made a public apology last month for the safety accidents at the shopping and entertainment complex.
Following the city’s latest orders, the group said it will organize a monthly meeting with experts to discuss the property’s safety conditions until the construction is complete.
By Claire Lee (
dyc@heraldcorp.com)
