Lotte World Mall looks safer but visitors not assured

A couple visits the ticket office at the Lotte World Mall’s movie theater, Tuesday. The theater and an aquarium in the mall were reopened to the public, ending a five-month suspension of business after a series of accidents that raised questions about safety issues. / Korea Times photo by Park Si-soo

By Park Si-soo

At a glance, employees outnumbered visitors at Lotte World Mall’s aquarium on Tuesday morning.

The same was true at the movie theater.

Many tables in restaurants and coffee shops remained empty, while security officers in black suits with two-way radios stood on guard.

“It looks nice,” said Lee Chun-sik, 73, a traveler from Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, looking at the aquarium. “I don’t think this building has problems in safety. Instead, one problem I found was traffic congestion on the way to here.”

There were naysayers as well.

“I’m still doubtful over the building’s safety,” said a salaried woman living near the mall. “I will stay away from the building for a while.”

Employees were eager to see more customers.

“I still don’t see a notable increase in the number of customers,” said a cashier at an Italian food restaurant on the way to the theater’s ticket office on the fifth floor. “We have suffered from a significant sales drop since the suspension. I hope the reopening will bring many people to this floor.”

Employees at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant on the same floor looked desperate. Nearly two-thirds of tables there remain unoccupied during lunchtime.

“The reopening is like a glimmer of hope for us,” an employee said. “I believe this building is safe. So I want many people to come here and enjoy it.”

Lotte seems determined to make the mall accident-free. The nation’s biggest retailer launched a safety management committee in February, which is committed to monitoring the safety of the mall around the clock. The company has also promised to relocate its control tower and the offices of its chairman and founder to the skyscraper that will be completed next year, a move intended to dispel lingering safety concerns.

The company plans to host a variety of events to attract people to the building and defuse the anxiety. Yet many say it will take time.

The two recreational facilities were reopened to the public after nearly five months on Tuesday, ending a business suspension imposed in December by Seoul City following a series of accidents ― including a water leak at the aquarium, tremors felt in the theater and cracks on the mall’s floor ― that stoked fears over safety.

By coincidence, these accidents took place at a time when the safety of the mall and its associated 123-story skyscraper, which is still under construction, were called into question in the wake of sinkholes that appeared around them last year. The mysterious sinkholes have made the mall a place to avoid for many.

Seoul City gave Lotte the green light to reopen the facilities last week following a lengthy safety review at the facilities in question. The approval came out with several conditions attached, which include monthly safety inspections of the mall’s structure and regular safety monitoring of the aquarium and cinema.

Seoul City warned that another major accident will lead to the complete closure of the mall.