Fire safety omissions and forgery uncovered in Jungbunaeryuk Line project

[Anchor]

Soon, the entire section of the Jungbunaeryuk Line railway connecting Icheon in Gyeonggi Province and Mungyeong in North Gyeongsang Province will be opened.

However, an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection revealed that fire safety equipment was omitted in some sections.

There are also indications that the Korea National Railway and the supervising company were involved in document manipulation.

This is Moon Ye-seul reporting.

[Report]

Icheon Bubal Station in Gyeonggi Province.

The high-speed railway extending over 90 kilometers to Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, will be fully opened up to the second phase next week.

However, just before the opening, it was revealed that fire safety equipment was omitted in some sections of the second phase, contrary to the original contract.

The contractor for Section 8 secured a project worth over 210 billion won by promising to install specialized equipment at the time of the contract.

This specialized equipment is designed to control smoke during a fire, reducing the exposure time for evacuees.

However, during the construction process, when they realized that an additional 4.7 billion won was needed, it was revealed in the audit that the construction company, the Korea National Railway, and the supervising company colluded to subtly change the design.

In particular, they fabricated meeting results as if the original designer had stated that "the equipment was unnecessary," and even forged signatures to make it appear that the original designer attended the meeting.

Based on this, they classified the related equipment as a "minor issue" that did not require committee review or audit, thus avoiding scrutiny.

As a result, the construction company did not have to bear the additional 4.7 billion won, and the Korea National Railway suffered a corresponding loss, according to the Board of Audit and Inspection.

[Kim Kyung-deok/Director of the Land and Environment Audit Division, Board of Audit and Inspection: "In a 'turnkey contract,' there is a tendency to do high-level designs to win the bid, but once they become the winning bidder, they try to cut costs during the detailed design process as it incurs a lot of expenses."]

The Board of Audit and Inspection has requested an investigation by the prosecution into four individuals from the construction company, the Korea National Railway, and the supervising company on charges of forgery of private documents and breach of duty.

However, since the construction has been completed, they deemed that additional construction is not possible and have notified the Korea National Railway to recover the corresponding amount.

The Korea National Railway stated that since the basic design has been met, there will be no changes to the operation plan for the entire Jungbunaeryuk Line next week.

This is KBS News, Moon Ye-seul reporting.