Sampoong Department Store collapse

Rare card · No. 27357

On June 29, 1995, the Sampoong Department Store (Korean: 삼풍백화점; Hanja: 三豐百貨店) in Seocho District, Seoul, South Korea, collapsed due to a structural failure. The collapse killed 502 people and injured 937, making it the largest peacetime disaster in South Korean history. It was the deadliest non-deliberate modern building collapse until the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh. Construction on the store began in 1987 and was completed in 1990. During construction, the chairman of Sampoong Group's construction division, Lee Joon, wanted changes to the concrete support columns that introduced structural concerns. When the company's general contractor resisted these changes, Lee ultimately fired them and used his own in-house construction company to complete the building. Investigators blamed the collapse primarily on this and other unsafe modifications made during the building's construction and lifespan. On December 27, 1995, Lee Joon was convicted of criminal negligence and sentenced...

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