[Anchor]

South Korea is pushing forward with the construction of wooden apartment buildings. Many may worry about the risk of fire, but experts say these wooden structures are actually safer against fires and earthquakes.

Reporter Lee Joo-hyung visited the site.

[Reporter]

Currently, the world's tallest wooden building is the Ascent Tower in the United States, a 25-story mixed-use apartment complex.

This record is set to be broken by the end of this year.

The Atlassian Central Tower, a 39-story wooden building standing over 130 meters tall, is being constructed in Sydney, Australia.

In addition, high-rise wooden buildings such as the Mjøstårnet in Norway and HoHo Wien in Austria have been gaining popularity in recent years.

Recently, high-rise wooden architecture has also been drawing attention in South Korea.

The Forest Welfare Education Center, a seven-story building completed last year, is currently the tallest wooden building in the country.

The basement and elevator shafts were built with reinforced concrete, while the rest of the structure utilized CLT, or Cross-Laminated Timber, an engineered wood product developed over 20 years ago.

[Yang Pyeong-gang / Manager, General Affairs Team, Korea Forest Welfare Institute: There were regulatory limitations due to height restrictions under the Building Act, but those height regulations have since been abolished.]

This is the construction site where the first attempt to build a wooden apartment complex in South Korea is underway.

Out of a total of 130 units, 18 units—half of two buildings standing 13 and 11 stories tall—are being built as wall-structured wooden apartments.

This means that not only the pillars and beams, but also the walls and floors are made entirely of wood.

Only the foundation is made of reinforced concrete.

When people hear about using wood for high-rise buildings, their biggest concern is whether it can withstand fires or earthquakes.

However, engineered wood like CLT, made by crossing layers of wood grain at right angles, has a much higher specific strength than steel or concrete.

This apartment complex uses seven-layer engineered wood made from Finnish spruce.

[Lee Hyuk / CEO of Gansam Architecture Innovation Division: Because engineered wood is densely bonded, it forms a protective layer even when exposed to fire, allowing it to endure for a long time. It is much safer for evacuation and structurally sound as well.]

Wooden architecture is highly effective in reducing carbon emissions and has low thermal conductivity, which is advantageous for heating and cooling, while also enabling new architectural designs.

Reinforced concrete has been in widespread use only since the 20th century.

South Korea, a country with a history of building and living in traditional Hanok houses, is now taking its first steps toward what is both the oldest and most future-oriented form of wooden architecture.

(Video coverage: Choi Dae-woong | Video editing: Lee Sang-min | Design: Kang Yoon-jung)