Has Korea Gotten Any Safer in the Last 20 Years?

Twenty-years ago from today, 32 people were killed when the 17-year-old Seongsu Bridge over the Han River collapsed. The press at that time lamented that it seemed anywhere outside home in Korea was a way to the grave.

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Things do not seem to have improved much 20 years on, as recent tragedies from the April 16 ferry sinking to last Friday's death of 16 people at a pop concert make only too clear.

Experts say it is an illusion to think that Korea is any safer than it used to be. "The cities have developed, but that's brought bigger and more complicated risk factors, and infrastructure and facilities are aging", says Kim Geun-young, a professor of urban planning at Kangnam University.

The ferry disaster took the lives of 294 passengers, most of whom were high school students on their way to a school trip, with 10 still missing six months after the accident. Several sinkholes were discovered in southern Seoul in August near subway construction sites, raising fears of another major disaster.

Then last Friday, an elevated vent grate collapsed during a K-pop concert at Pangyo Techno Valley in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, sending 27 people plunging into an underground car park below.

The Pangyo tragedy seems to be the last wakeup calls warning safety must be taken seriously.

A massive 495,636 sinkholes and potholes were reported in Seoul alone in the past 10 years, causing 2,106 road accidents, at a rate of one a day. The number of sinkholes reported increased from 435 in 2010 to 854 in 2013.

But the insides of buildings are rarely any safer. The Ministry of Security and Public Administration inspected 8,379 elevators and escalators in high-rise buildings in June, and 319 required improvements.

There are now 496,000 lifts and escalators in the country, 10 times more 39,000 in 1994, and the number of accidents involving them also rose from 19 to 112 over the same period.

"The government needs to deliver accurate safety information and strengthen safety standards as we now have more and more multiuse facilities and a more complex city structure with increased population and traffic volume", says Kim.

Park Hyung-joo, a construction and engineering professor from Gachon University, said, "It's hard for the government to regulate every little detail regarding the safety of people in everyday life. Local governments need to come up with ordinances or guidelines more appropriate to the local situation".