Ministry targets 75 sites in Gyeongsang region over 25 days starting Monday
The government is stepping up its crackdown on illegal subcontracting at construction sites across the board, expanding the scope of enforcement from public-sector sites to private ones.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced Thursday that it will conduct an intensive crackdown on illegal subcontracting at 75 private construction sites in the Gyeongsang region from Monday through Nov. 13.
The operation is part of a broader campaign that designated the period from Monday through Dec. 31 as an "intensive crackdown and voluntary reporting period" for illegal subcontracting. The ministry has been conducting joint inspections with 10 public institutions — Korea Land and Housing Corporation, Korea National Railway, Korea Expressway Corporation, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Korea Water Resources Corporation, Korea Rural Community Corporation, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Gas Corporation, Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation and Seoul Metro. The latest action extends that enforcement drive from public construction sites to private ones.
Working with those public institutions, the ministry has already selected 275 public construction sites suspected of or reported for illegal subcontracting and is conducting intensive inspections. In addition, 15 enforcement personnel from the ministry's headquarters and five regional land management offices will be deployed to the Gyeongsang region to conduct intensive inspections of private sites alongside the Korea Construction Equipment Association.
The ministry carried out a similar intensive inspection in May, forming a public-private joint support team led by First Vice Minister Kim I-tak to examine construction sites in the Greater Seoul area. That effort uncovered 29 cases of illegal subcontracting and 60 other violations of the Framework Act on the Construction Industry. It also resolved 11 cases of unpaid construction equipment rental fees totaling 125.8 million won ($93,300).
Judging the results of the first-half inspections to be significant, the ministry plans to concentrate the enforcement capacity of its five regional land management offices on the Gyeongsang region this time to improve the effectiveness of the crackdown.
The ministry will also actively link the whistleblower reward system to on-site enforcement. Sites reported to regional land management offices — including those with unpaid fees — will be added to the crackdown targets, allowing authorities to quickly verify reported claims against actual construction conditions.
In June, the government revised the Enforcement Decree of the Framework Act on the Construction Industry, replacing the previous maximum reward of 2 million won with a new standard tied to the penalty imposed and abolishing the payment ceiling altogether. Reward rates are set at 27 percent for subcontracting to unregistered contractors, 30 percent for blanket subcontracting, and 30 percent for re-subcontracting to unregistered parties.
"Having confirmed the results of the May crackdown in the Greater Seoul area — including illegal subcontracting cases uncovered and unpaid wages resolved — we will now take a close look at illegal subcontracting and wage arrears at private construction sites," First Vice Minister Kim said. "We will extend inspections from public construction sites to private ones, ensure that reports through the whistleblower reward system lead swiftly to enforcement action and penalties, and encourage voluntary correction, all to establish a fair and orderly environment at construction sites."
smh@heraldcorp.com
