SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) — The chairman of major South Korean real estate developer HDC Hyundai Development Co. offered to step down Monday to take responsibility for the second fatal accident at its construction sites in less than a year.
Chung Mong-gyu made the statement six days after part of the facade on a 39-story apartment building crumbled to the ground at its construction site in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
Search operations were under way for five missing workers. One worker was found dead Friday.
“I apologize to the family members of the victims in the accident in Gwangju and to the public,” he said at a press conference at the company’s headquarters in Seoul.
Chung said, however, he will continue to “fulfill his duty” as the company’s major shareholder.
In June last year, Hyundai Development came under fire over a building collapse during demolition in a housing redevelopment project in the same provincial city.
The five-story building fell on a city bus on an adjacent road, killing nine bus passengers and seriously injuring eight others. Hyundai Development was the main contractor of the project.
The accidents have put Hyundai Development, the country’s ninth-largest builder, into a major crisis, with police and government officials having launched probes into the company over possible safety regulation violations and other lax practices.
The Gwangju government has suspended all five of HDC’s construction projects in the city.