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Last year, an accident occurred at a professional baseball stadium in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, where a falling structure killed a spectator. When the Board of Audit and Inspection stepped in to investigate whether other major stadiums were safe, numerous problems were uncovered across various venues.

Reporter Choi Jae-yeong reports.

[Reporter]

In August, during a professional soccer match held in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, a piece of concrete fell from the ceiling above the spectator stands, injuring one spectator.

A month before the accident, an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection had already uncovered seven defects, including wall cracks, but the site remains neglected without any corrective measures even now.

Such safety management problems have been uncovered at major stadiums across the country.

First, let us look at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.

A problem was discovered in the structure supporting the circular roof. Looking precisely at the structure here, it should be connected in a straight line, as seen now.

However, in reality, it is abnormally bent.

The inspection found that it was bent by up to approximately 18 centimeters.

Such issues were discovered in 23 out of the total 466 connection joints.

Earlier in 2024, the Seoul Facilities Corporation identified the issue and carried out reinforcement work, but it was found that the supporting capacity remains insufficient because reinforcement was applied to only one side of the structure rather than both sides.

At the Jeonju World Cup Stadium, it was confirmed that this section supporting the roof was constructed with insufficient rebar.

Although Jeonju City had already known about this 10 years ago, it reinforced only 89 sections with cracks and left the remaining 300 neglected.

At Incheon Munhak Baseball Stadium, 50 steel structures supporting the roof are similarly damaged.

At Seoul World Cup Stadium, a 120-ton traditional sauna facility operates on the premises, but the Seoul Facilities Corporation deemed it "safe" without factoring in this weight, a lapse caught in this latest audit.

Jamsil Sports Complex was also called out in the Board of Audit and Inspection's review for pushing ahead with remodeling into a baseball stadium without reinforcements, even after receiving an assessment that its roof would struggle to withstand strong winds.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is conducting additional verifications on the necessity of roof reinforcement.

[Kim Myeong-jun / Director, Division 4 of the Land and Safety Audit Bureau, Board of Audit and Inspection: For these five stadiums, we judged that the issues are not at a level requiring immediate closure. However, in situations such as heavy snowfall or strong winds, the insufficient supporting capacity could lead to the collapse of some facilities....]

To prevent crowd crush accidents, regulations stipulate that concert attendance must be limited to no more than four people per square meter; however, an investigation revealed that 33 concerts held at venues such as the Olympic Gymnastics Arena violated this rule by selling tickets exceeding the expected audience capacity by more than 10%.

(Video by Oh Young-taek | Graphics by Lee Ga-jin, Byun Da-young)