Ignoring Designs Led to Resident's Death… Ending in a Landslide

Individuals involved in building a solar power plant, who proceeded with construction differently from the approved design during the process and caused a landslide that killed a resident during torrential rain, have both received suspended prison sentences.

Chuncheon District Court's Criminal Division 2 announced that it has dismissed the appeals filed by A, the actual representative of the civil engineering contractor for the solar power plant, and B, the site manager, who were indicted on charges of occupational manslaughter, upholding the lower court's ruling of eight months in prison suspended for two years for each.

Between October 2017 and January of the following year, while carrying out civil engineering work in the Dunnae-myeon area of Hoengseong County, the two informed the developer that, unlike the original design, a large amount of soil needed to be excavated and piled up, which would require more construction time and cost.

However, the developer instructed A and B to arbitrarily change the design details without permission from the competent administrative agency and finish the construction quickly.

Consequently, instead of the originally planned dry-stacked stone wall construction method, the two proceeded with the work by maintaining the natural slope.

A and the others piled up the excavated soil to a height of 10 meters instead of the originally planned 2 meters, and failed to conduct safety inspections on the resulting cut-and-fill slopes.

The construction site had experienced torrential rain in the past, and the house of a resident, C, was located below the mountain slope.

Ultimately, on August 9, 2022, due to heavy rain near the solar power plant construction site, a massive amount of soil was washed down along with rainwater, engulfing C's house and causing C to lose their life.

In both the first and second trials, the defendants argued that there was no causal relationship between the construction activities and the fatal accident, but the court did not accept this based on site photographs and other evidence.

The fact that experts in forestry, geology, and forest engineering analyzed that rainwater concentrated intensively on the filled slope due to the torrential rain, weakening the ground and triggering the collapse, also served as the basis for the guilty verdict.

The court explained that the developer had an economic motive to shorten the construction period to reduce interest on construction loans exceeding 1.8 billion won, and that A and B accepted the developer's demands due to their vested interest in maintaining the subcontracting contract.

A and B, who were found guilty in both the first and second trials, have filed appeals to the Supreme Court.

D, the project developer of the solar power plant, and E, the site manager, were also brought to trial on the same charges, receiving sentences of one year and two months in prison suspended for two years, and one year in prison suspended for two years, respectively, in the first trial.

As the two did not appeal following the first-instance ruling, their sentences have been finalized.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.