By Kim Hyun-bin
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has evacuated all residents living in a 15-story studio apartment building in Gangnam, southern Seoul, as it found signs of a possible impending collapse.
According to the city government, it received a call on Tuesday afternoon concerning the safety of the Daejong Building in Samseong-dong and city officials were immediately deployed to the scene to conduct an emergency inspection.
The inspection results showed that 20 percent of the central pillars of the building were damaged and there were also problems with the iron bars within the pillars. The city government evacuated all residents and took emergency measures to strengthen the structure.
“After inspecting the building, experts gave it an E rating for safety and concluded there were signs the building could possibly collapse,” a city official said.
An E rating is the lowest safety standard level for a building.
Mayor Park Won-soon visited the site in the evening.
“We need to thoroughly inspect the building to see if it needs to be demolished and inform the residents fully before the decision,” Park said.
The building was built in 1991 with 15 floors above ground and seven sub-basement levels.