Two dead in Gwangju library site collapse

Dec 12, 2025, 08:44 am

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Firefighters conduct rescue operations for trapped workers after a structural collapse at the construction site of the Gwangju Metropolitan Library in Chipyeong-dong, Seo District, Gwangju, on December 11. / Source: Yonhap News

President Lee Jae-myung on December 11 stressed that economic sanctions, rather than criminal punishment, should be imposed for violations in the economic sphere, referring pointedly to Coupang following a large-scale personal data leak.

Speaking at a policy briefing at the Sejong Convention Center attended by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Data Office, Lee cited the government’s planned Economic Penal Rationalization Task Force. “Places like ‘some-pang’ are not afraid of punishment,” he said, using a play on Coupang’s name. “They need to bear appropriate economic costs so they can judge what constitutes economic loss and gain.”

Lee added that in many cases, it is not company owners or beneficiaries who are punished for economic violations, but frontline workers, and even then only after legal processes that can take five or six years. “Impose economic sanctions,” he said, urging swift action. “Speed is everything.”

The president also called for careful consideration of special exceptions to the separation of industrial and financial capital to secure funding for large-scale investment in so-called “initial technology” sectors. In response, Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said the government would not touch safeguards designed to prevent industrial capital from dominating financial institutions, but would ease financial regulations to facilitate large-scale investment.

Lee further emphasized a “speed-first” approach to establishing a proposed Strategic Export Finance Fund, which would recover a portion of profits from companies that benefited from government support for major strategic exports.

On follow-up measures to U.S.-Korea tariff negotiations, Lee urged that any legislation for a “Special Act on Strategic Investment Management” between the two countries strictly adhere to commercial rationality.

To stabilize prices, Lee asked officials to consider fiscal spending methods, noting that refund- or voucher-based approaches could help ease polarization and improve income redistribution. He also called for expanding the so-called “basic communication right,” including broader application of data safety options for mobile users.

During the National Tax Service briefing, Lee stressed the importance of enforcing tax justice through stricter management of large-scale tax arrears and unpaid non-tax revenues, instructing authorities to establish a large-scale task force dedicated to delinquency management.

The death toll from a construction site collapse at the Gwangju Metropolitan Library project in Seo District, Gwangju, rose to two on December 11, as rescue authorities continued efforts to locate two remaining missing workers.

According to the National Fire Agency, rescue teams recovered a second trapped worker at around 8:13 p.m. The individual showed no signs of life at the time of rescue and was pronounced dead at the scene.

This brought the number of fatalities to two. The first trapped worker was rescued about an hour after the accident, at around 2:52 p.m., and transported to a hospital, but later died. Of the four workers initially buried in the collapse, the locations of the remaining two have yet to be identified.

The accident occurred at around 1:58 p.m. when a steel structure collapsed at the construction site of the Gwangju Metropolitan Library, trapping four workers who were on duty at the time. A total of 97 subcontracted workers were working at the site.

Authorities said the collapse began on the rooftop of the second floor during concrete pouring work and triggered a chain reaction that extended down to the basement. It was later confirmed that no support structures capable of bearing the load had been installed during the construction process.

Fire authorities said they are deploying all available personnel and equipment to continue rescue operations at the site.

#Gwangju #construction site collapse #library project #fatalities #trapped workers