<Anchor>



One of the causes of this disaster is the illegal construction of the Hamilton Hotel.

There is also criticism that Yongsan-gu Office responded passively even though it knew it was illegal under the current law.



Correspondent Ahn Hee-jae.



<Reporter>



It is behind the Hamilton Hotel where the disaster occurred.



A terrace and Halloween booth protrude between the hotel main building and the annex building.



The alley, where the crowds gathered, gets narrower as you go to the site of the disaster, and the width has decreased more rapidly due to the buildings on both sides.



The hotel was caught for unauthorized extensions in 2018 and last year.



Suspicions have been raised that the temporary wall on the side of the hotel was also installed in violation of the rule that the road must be 4m wide.



The alleyway, which was narrowed to about 3m due to unauthorized extensions and temporary walls, was one of the causes of the disaster.



When criticism began that the local government did not properly implement administrative measures such as crackdown, Yongsan-gu Office began to explain.



The hotel was built in 1970 and at the time it was not illegal if the road was only 3 meters wide, and later in 1973, the road width regulation was expanded to 4 meters, but it is not subject to retroactive application.



It was explained that this temporary wall was built to prevent the heat from the outdoor unit of the hotel air conditioner from reaching the pedestrians.



In addition, the rear terrace was not listed on the building book, so it was judged as an unauthorized extension, and a line was drawn that had nothing to do with the width of the road.



He also explained that although the hotel has been charged a compulsory performance fee every year, it has no authority to forcibly remove it.



[Jo Won-cheol / Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering, Yonsei University: The attitude that we will only deal with performance fees or fines is very passive.

We should be able to give orders to fundamentally improve our facilities...

.]



The police plan to verify the facts, including the connection between the unauthorized extension and the accident.