Seoul, Dec 12 The South Korean government plans to introduce a special law to strengthen construction workplace safety and enforce tougher penalties for fatal accidents, the Land Minister said Friday, in response to a growing number of such incidents at building sites.
Land Minister Kim Yun-duk announced the plan during a policy briefing for President Lee Jae Myung held in the central administrative city of Sejong, noting that construction-related fatalities account for about 40 per cent of all industrial deaths in the country, Yonhap News Agency reported.
According to Kim, the envisioned special law will clearly define safety responsibilities at work sites and allow authorities to impose stronger sanctions when deadly accidents occur due to poor oversight.
Beyond construction, the minister said safety initiatives will also extend to transportation infrastructure, noting the government's plan to bolster aviation safety through airport facility upgrades and additional air traffic controllers.
On housing supply measures, Kim promised to push ahead with the government's pledge to supply 1.1 million public housing units, a key policy agenda of the administration, and announce related measures in the first half of 2026.
Since taking office in June, the President has reiterated the need for stronger measures to prevent industrial accidents following a series of accidents at workplaces managed by major construction companies.
In the latest accident that occurred on Thursday, two workers were confirmed dead, and two others remained missing after a steel structure collapsed at a library construction site in the southwestern city of Gwangju.
Meanwhile, search efforts for two workers missing at the site were temporarily halted on Friday as officials sought to stabilise a fallen steel structure and ensure rescuers' safety.
The Gwangju Fire Headquarters said the search and rescue operation, which entered its second day, would be put on hold until 6 p.m. to take stabilisation measures due to concerns of the steel structure further collapsing.
Rescue authorities conducted an overnight search for the two workers believed to be trapped under twisted steel and concrete debris, after the collapse at 1.58 p.m. Thursday in Gwangju, about 300 kilometres south of Seoul.
Four workers were initially trapped at the site, with firefighters recovering two of them -- one was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other later at the hospital.
In an interagency meeting, rescue authorities decided it would be important to remove debris and search for the missing while fully ensuring safety.
Officials suspect the collapse began as workers poured concrete onto the two-story structure's rooftop, with the ground floors falling to the underground level.
Rescue officials earlier slowly advanced to the underground level, where the workers are presumed to be located, cutting off entangled rebar that has hampered the search.
The operation also faced difficulties as the concrete mixture began to harden with the rubble, prompting officials to shovel it out and pour water to dilute it.
The library under construction was being built by the Gwangju metropolitan government on the site of a former waste incineration plant.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor