At around 6 pm on June 29, 1995, Sanfeng Department Store, a high-end shopping center located in the Ruicao District, southern Seoul City, was bustling as usual. This was the peak time for housewives to shop. No one expected that a disaster was rushing towards people.
Suddenly, Sanfeng Department Store shaking violently, followed by a loud "boom". The northern half of the building on the 9th floor (5 floors above the ground and 4 floors underground) collapsed into ruins in an instant from top to bottom. Most of the customers and employees in the northern half of Sanfeng Department Store were buried in the ruins, and the scene of the disaster was terrible.
After the building collapsed, most of the bodies excavated during the rescue process were corpses. However, three young men were buried in the ruins for more than 10 days and were miraculously rescued. One of the shop employees named Park Seung Hyun is 19 years old. She spent nearly 16 days without food or drink in the ruins, a full 377 hours. After being rescued, she was in good condition. This brought a lot of "surprise" to South Korea, which has always been shrouded in a sad atmosphere. By July 17, 1995, the death toll had reached 407, 259 were missing, and about 1,000 were injured, of which 401 were still receiving treatment in the hospital.
The collapse of Sanfeng Department Store caused a great shock in South Korea. Behind the incident, in addition to cutting corners and illegal construction during the construction, there is also a bribery scandal hidden.
Sanfeng Department Store was undertaken by Sanfeng Construction Company. Construction started in July 1987, completed in November 1989, and officially started business in July 1990. The entire building covers an area of 29,000 square meters and is about 200 meters long from north to south. The collapsed north building is a shopping area, while the unfallen south building is an entertainment area. The building has a beautiful appearance and luxurious interior decoration. All the items sold are medium and high-end products, including both domestic and imported goods. The swimming pools, gyms and other entertainment facilities are advanced and complete. The rich people in Seoul frequently visit this modern building.
The land occupied by Sanfeng Department Store was originally used for the construction of residential buildings. The address of the building was originally a garbage dump, but when construction began in 1986, it was approved to build a shopping mall.
After the basic structure of the building was completed in 1988, it suddenly decided to add another floor. As a result, the 4-story drawings built a 5-story building without strengthening the bottom, making the weight of the building far exceed the design capacity.
Construction companies cut corners seriously during building construction. According to design standards, the pillars and floor slabs of Sanfeng Building must use steel bars 22 to 25 mm thick, while the actual diameter of steel bars used is 16 to 19 mm. According to regulations, 12 steel bars are used for each pillar, which is reduced to 9 or even 6 during construction. In addition, the building construction also uses cement that is not up to standard, corrosive steel bars, and sea sand that is highly corrosive to metal components. On the fifth floor that collapsed before the building collapsed, it was found that there was no steel bar within 1 square meter.
After the collapse of Sanfeng Department Store, South Korean police investigators said they had enough evidence to show that the owners allocated huge sums of money to buy government officials during the construction and expansion of the department store to illegally modify the construction plan and bribe project acceptance personnel.
1994, in order to expand the underground business area, the mall modified the building structure, which also affected the building's ability to withstand it.
After the Hanjiang Holy Water Bridge incident in October 1994, the Seoul City Government deployed two safety inspections on public buildings such as shops and bridges. After the relevant departments inspected the Sanfeng Department Store, they said twice that "there is no problem". The people accused this kind of inspection and went through the motions irresponsibly.
Sanfeng Department Store had signs before it collapsed, but it did not attract the high attention of the company's head, causing more than a thousand customers and store employees to lose their last chance to escape disaster.
On the morning of the day before the collapse of Sanfeng Department Store (29th), someone reported that nearly 30 cm of cracks appeared on the walls of the 5th floor of the building. In the morning, someone reported that the roof was deformed and the floor collapsed on the 5th floor. However, the company's head only deployed the 4th and 5th floors to suspend operations after inspection, and did not consider taking measures to stop business and conduct comprehensive inspections.
All the above reasons finally led to the Sanfeng disaster.
On July 24, 1995, South Korean police arrested three officials in Seoul City on charges that each of them received bribes ranging from US$2,630 to US$3,950 after the expansion of the Sanfeng Department Store. At that time, they were responsible for the construction of factories and large shopping malls in the Seoul Industry and Economic Bureau.
From July 26, 1995, South Korean police arrested 19 suspected persons responsible for the accident, including the heads of the department store, officials from the Shuicao District, Seoul-Cape District who accepted bribes, and heads of several companies responsible for the design and construction of the building.
Experts believe that the Sanfeng Department Store fell to the bottom and only left alone elevator shelves, indicating that there are fatal weaknesses in all aspects of the building's design, construction and acceptance. The collapse of the building is not a natural disaster but a man-made disaster.
Since South Korea launched a military coup in 1961 to seize power, it has driven the country's development with the two main axes of "military politics" (end in February 1993) and "chaebol economy". "Soldier politics" and "Cabolical Bully economy" are separated from each other in terms of property rights, and are combined with officials and businessmen in terms of economic interests. The separation of government and enterprises fundamentally ensures the sustainable development of South Korea's economy, while collusion between officials and businessmen hinders the healthy development of South Korea's economy. Despite this, due to the strong support of the United States and the opportunities brought by the U.S.-Vietnam War to South Korea's economic development,
In the past 30 years from the 1960s to the 1990s, South Korea's average annual growth rate was still at the forefront of the developing country , and it was the first to become a "emerging industrialized country and region".
During this period, due to the government's deliberate support for the chaebol, almost all the country's limited funds were absorbed by the chaebols, so a unique "official and business" collusion system emerged. When chaebols take out loans and undertake construction projects, they will definitely give officials huge bribes. This kind of bribery can either be attributed to a private pocket or become the political capital of the ruling party. Construction operators lost huge amounts of funds due to bribery, so they could only make up for it by cutting corners, which left hidden dangers that caused major vicious accidents. Kim Yongsan The anti-corruption campaign after taking office in February 1993 is to solve the chronic disease of collusion between officials and businessmen that has plagued South Korea's economic development for more than 30 years.
In South Korea, where the economy continues to grow, all areas are clamoring to shorten construction periods, save costs, and become the highest program. "Growth at any cost" and "growth first" are two famous slogans in the process of South Korea's economic development in the 1960s and 1970s. The Seoul-Busan Expressway (328 kilometers) that broke ground in 1980 was completed in two years at a low cost of 100 million won per kilometer. Relevant people boasted that this was a great miracle that had never been done by previous generations. However, the cost of repairing the roads later exceeded the construction costs. This cannot be said to be a typical example of irresponsible fraud and administrative bureaucrats showing off their political achievements.
examples are not limited to road construction. In other fields in South Korea, fraud and irresponsible things are everywhere.
South Korea was known for its rapid development in the 1970s to 1990s, and was praised as a "miracle" by some people who only pay attention to speed indicators. However, the frequent vicious accidents that occur while developing undoubtedly reveal the other side of its economic development.
On March 28, 1993, the 117 "Infinite Flower" train from Seoul to Busan drove towards the terminal at a speed of 85 kilometers per hour in the drizzle of spring rain. Among the more than 600 passengers on the bus were elderly people in their seventies and babies in swaddled clothes. At 5:30 pm, the train entered Busan city and reached the end in more than 10 minutes. However, an unfortunate incident happened at this moment. The driver found that the roadbed 50 meters ahead was sinking rapidly, and quickly used the emergency brake valve . However, it was too late, and the front of the car suddenly derailed and collided into the deep ditch next to the road. At the scene of the accident, the locomotive, the power generation car, and the two bus cars No. 5 and No. 6 were piled up like crushed matchboxes. Many passengers were squeezed to death between the seats, and the carriages were filled with red blood.
The number of people killed in this accident was at least 80, the youngest of which was only two years old, and more than 100 injured.
On July 5, 1993, the basement boiler of the Seoul Hayat Hotel, where the US President Clinton was scheduled to stay when he was visiting South Korea exploded. The air waves blew down the ceiling and washed down the walls, injuring three staff members of the hotel. Some nearby shops and coffee shops were destroyed. Relevant experts speculate that the explosion may be caused by the excessive pressure of the steam in the boiler and the failure of the pressure-removing valve or gas automatic switch . Although the accident did not cause death, it greatly damaged the image of the Korean hotel industry internationally.
On the morning of October 10, 1993, a passenger ship sank in the sea surface of Fu'an-gun, North Jeolla Province, South Korea, becoming the worst shipwreck in the history of the country. In the incident, 292 people died and 70 survived. It is investigated that at the time of the incident, the ferry, which could carry 207 passengers, carried more than 360 people. Police said severe overload and strong winds were the direct causes of the accident. President Kim Yongsan has therefore dismissed his Minister of Transport and Director of the Maritime and Port Authority.
1994 at 7:45 am on October 21, 1994, a bridge about 50 meters in the middle of the Holy Water Bridge on the Han River Han River in Seoul City suddenly collapsed. Some vehicles driving on the bridge fell into the river water about 20 meters away from the bridge deck, including a bus full of passengers, killing at least 32 people and injuring more than 20 people. According to investigation, the accident was caused by cutting corners when building the bridge, losing control of traffic volume and poor warranty management, causing the bridge to operate overload for a long time, resulting in the break of the middle link of the bridge. The mayor of Seoul was removed from office, and Congress proposed a case of distrust of the cabinet, and President Kim Yongsan personally apologized to the people through TV.
On October 24, 1994, just as the president's apology was still being played frequently on TV, a cruise ship suddenly caught fire at Chungju Lake in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea, killing 29 people and injuring more than 30 people. Police said the accident was likely caused by overheating of the machines in the cabin of the cruise ship.
On the afternoon of December 7, 1994, a gas explosion occurred in Mapo District, central Seoul, killing 12 people and injuring more than 40 people. The area was trapped in a sea of fire, with more than 20 residential and commercial buildings and more than 20 cars burned down, and firefighters took hours to put out the fire. Police said the accident was caused by gas leaks caused by personnel who repaired the gas meter without taking any safety measures.
At 7:50 am on April 28, 1995, during the peak hours of work, the subway construction site in front of a school in the center of Daegu City, with a huge explosion, the ground collapsed, and a skyrocketing fire broke out from the underground construction site. About 30 buses and private cars that students and working citizens were riding fell to the ground or were overturned, and more than 10 buildings around were damaged to varying degrees. The accident killed at least 103 people and injured more than 180 people. This city, known for its petrochemical and textile industries, fell into a tragedy. Police said the accident was caused by gas leakage caused by the construction site accidentally piercing the underground gas pipeline during drilling operations. After the accident, President Kim Yongsan announced that Daegu City was a disaster area and asked the cabinet to organize rescue efforts. Premier Li Hongjiu immediately rushed to the scene to investigate the disaster. That night, he held an emergency cabinet meeting and apologized to the people, saying that he would never allow similar accidents to happen again. To this end, the South Korean government decided to conduct safety inspections on all construction projects across the country, deal with serious violations of safety rules, and order the subway projects under construction to be suspended for inspection.
However, only two months later, the Sanfeng Department Store collapsed again.
The practice of step-by-step transfer of contracts implemented in the Korean construction industry is an important reason for inferior construction. During the bidding process, a project is often subcontracted several times. For every subcontracted, the project contract fee is stripped off one layer, and the project contract fee to the actual construction unit is often only about 50%. In order to achieve profitability, the contractor can only make plans on reducing construction periods and reducing construction costs. The quality of such construction projects is naturally not guaranteed.However, due to the collusion between officials and businessmen, government officials responsible for supervising construction projects gave the green light to inferior projects.
In late December 1995, the Seoul District Court of South Korea made a verdict on the person responsible for the collapse of the Sanfeng Department Store: Sanfeng President Lee Bo and his son, Sanfeng President Lee Hanxiang, were sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison and 7 years in prison for violating the "Special Crime Aggravated Punishment Act" and business negligence to cause death; two former district government leaders, Li Zhongyu and Huang Zhemin, were sentenced to 3 years and 2 and a half years in prison for accepting bribes, and were fined 13 million won (about 17,000 US dollars) and 12 million won respectively.
It is finally confirmed that 502 people died in this tragic disaster, 937 people were disabled, and dozens of people could not find the bodies. With the collapse of this large luxury shopping mall, the huge Sanfeng Group announced its collapse. If the huge material losses can be compensated, the trauma in people's hearts will not be healed for a long time. It is difficult for people who have lost their loved ones to eliminate the heart-wrenching pain, and many people who have survived the disaster will find it difficult to get rid of the nightmare in a short period of time.
I hope the "Sanfeng tragedy" will not happen again in the future!
