Chong Won-o, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate for Seoul mayor, and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor, clashed over the missing rebar issue at GTX-A Samseong Station.
On the 28th at the Seoul mayoral TV debate, candidate Chong said, "In 2025, the number of industrial accident deaths in Seoul increased from the previous year, and the number of fatal cases is also higher than the national average," and noted, "The reason problems like this occur is because candidate Oh Se-hoon is that uninterested in safety."
Chong said, "You can tell by looking at the response to the shoddy construction at Samseong Station," adding, "The Seoul City Deputy Minister in charge thought it was not gross negligence and said it was not even reported to the mayor, whereas Hyundai Engineering & Construction, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), and the supervision firm judged it to be serious shoddy construction."
In response, Oh said, "Hearing the explanation from the Deputy Minister in charge, they first judged right after the discovery whether this was a defect that would still allow construction to continue," and added, "After hearing expert opinions, they determined that the strength was maintained enough to continue construction, so they proceeded with the work while preparing remediation measures."
Oh said, "The conclusion reached after 19 rounds of meetings was that with remediation, the strength could be increased beyond the initial level."
Chong cut off Oh's answer and asked, "Is it serious shoddy work or ordinary shoddy work?" To this, Oh said, "It is not something to speak of in black-and-white terms," adding, "The issue is whether remediation is possible and whether it is safe enough for test runs, and MOLIT acknowledged that point, which is why test runs were conducted."
Chong and Oh also raised their voices, cutting off each other. When Oh said, "I'm not answering because this is being used as election material," Chong said, "Oh is numb to safety. He has not even visited the Samseong Station site yet."
Oh responded, "Construction is underway—what good would it do for me to go there?" and Chong criticized, "Isn't the mayor neglecting to look after safety?"