Recently, a series of major ground subsidence (sinkhole) incidents have occurred, prompting the government to subsidize half of the expense for ground exploration by local governments. Due to issues of insufficient equipment, personnel, and budget, local governments' performance in underground exploration for sinkhole prevention has been extremely poor, leading the central government to decide to support the expenses needed for the exploration.
According to the preliminary review report of the supplementary budget by the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on the 28th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has established a plan to subsidize 50% of the expenses incurred by local governments for ground exploration.
The additional budget allocated for local governments' operational subsidies amounts to 1.36 billion won. Through this supplementary budget, there are plans to support exploration for 1,360 kilometers. The unit cost for the ground investigation has been set at 2 million won per kilometer.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's support for half of the expenses for local governments' ground exploration is due to the increase in major sinkhole incidents, while the performance of local governments in conducting on-site ground exploration for prevention has been poor.
In the last five years, 867 ground subsidence incidents have occurred nationwide. This means an average of 173.4 sinkhole incidents per year.
However, the performance of local governments in conducting explorations for sinkhole prevention during the same period has been extremely low. With the exception of five cities—Seoul, Busan, Gyeongbuk, Ulsan, and Gwangju—there have been no proactive on-site investigations of underground facilities and surrounding ground by local governments over the past five years. Even in Gyeongbuk and Gwangju, where investigations have been conducted, they were only carried out once in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
Most local governments, excluding Seoul, Busan, and others, are not properly equipped with ground investigation equipment. They are also lacking in budget and personnel.
The Korea Land Safety Agency, an institution under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, is supporting ground exploration in high-risk sinkhole areas for local governments, but it has limitations in expanding explorations on its own. Last year, it provided support for explorations on 601 sites (2,308.28 km) out of 627 that applied for ground exploration.
Accordingly, the government decided to support expenses so that local governments can conduct preliminary explorations in areas with high risks of ground subsidence, even if they are not conducting self-investigations but using services, etc. There are a total of 40 corporations in the country that own GPR equipment, and it is estimated that these companies possess a total of 55 units of equipment.
The budget necessary for local governments' ground exploration will be funded equally by national and local government sources. Accordingly, funding from the national treasury will be provided to Daegu (350 million won), Daejeon (100 million won), and Gwangju (60 million won), where there is a possibility of local government funding. The remaining 850 million won is expected to be supported through additional demand surveys.
The National Assembly has ordered the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to accelerate the pace of the project to quell public concerns over sinkholes.
The roadmap for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's support project for ground exploration is structured so that after the decision on the allocation of subsidies to local governments in May, the announcement of the exploration service project and contract signing will take place in June and July, with the execution of the exploration tasks occurring from August to November, and the project being completed in December.
In the preliminary review report, the National Assembly stated, "The allocation of the supplementary budget for this project aims to expand ground exploration in high-risk ground subsidence areas to alleviate public anxiety caused by the recent series of ground subsidence incidents," noting, "It seems important to ensure that actual ground explorations are conducted promptly."
Additionally, the National Assembly emphasized that "the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport needs to swiftly implement the selection of the local governments to be supported and the subsidy distribution procedures to ensure that ground exploration by local governments in high-risk areas is conducted expeditiously."