"Fish see food but do not see hooks, and people see profit without harm."
Although we do not want to admit that human nature tends to this, the social disasters caused by "selfishness", "greed for fame and fortune", and "the pursuit of happiness" are the most powerful "evidence".
As we all know, South Korea is one of the few countries in the world that is "controlled" by big chaebols, because of the narrow economic model of the country, many Korean families have played a monopoly role in domestic capital since the end of the war.
Figure 1 South Korean chaebols
For example, the influential "Samsung Group", "Hyundai Group", "LG" and other well-known family companies, even the Mitutoyo Group in the 1980s and 90s, also had a pivotal position in South Korea.
Unfortunately, the chairman of the Mitoyo Group was mercenary and wanted to fill the shipwreck, so that the vacant land used for landfill was forcibly built into a luxurious department store building, and unrestrainedly remodeled and added entertainment facilities, which eventually led to a catastrophe.
So who is this greedy chairman of the Sanfeng Group? What unrealistic "hands and feet" did he do to Sanfeng Department Store? How many families and lives have been lost in this catastrophe?
The tall buildings rise from the ground, and the leaders only care about fame and profit
At the end of the 1980s, the Mitutoyo Group got a piece of turf in Seoul's Seocho District, and Chairman Lee Hyun decided to build a department store building on this golden road section, because at that time, South Korea was in a critical period of rapid economic development, and every frame of vacant land was worth tens of thousands of dollars in the eyes of capitalists.
Figure 2
But the problem is that this land was originally used by the government for landfill, and this vacant land is located between the residential areas on both sides, and the construction of department stores will not only make this area extremely crowded, but also the noise generated by the non-stop operation of machines all year round will also cause great trouble to the residents of this area.
Therefore, when Li Feng made this proposal, it was rejected by members of the group. Because before that, Li Had also issued instructions to build an office building, and also laid a four-story foundation with a load.)
At this point, the chairman suddenly wanted to make a department store, which not only had to re-plan the drawings, but also demolished the laid foundation and rebuilt it.
But as the chairman of the Mitoyo Group, will he easily listen to the advice of others when he has identified the facts? Naturally, in order to save money, Li Wei not only did not destroy the foundation and rebuild it, but also added another floor to the original four floors for entertainment.
But you don't know, at that time, the floors planned in the first edition of the drawings were four floors above ground and four floors underground, and the construction plan of each step and the load-bearing force of each floor were all budgeted in advance, so the concept of converting it into a five-story department store building was undoubtedly a fatal challenge to the building foundation itself.
Figure 3
Therefore, the person in charge of the building repeatedly reminded the chairman that the risk factor of this is very high, and the building may collapse at any time, but Li Tao has been overwhelmed by the dream of making more money in the department store, and he can't listen to a word for a while.
From this point of view, Li Tao's act of covering his ears and stealing the bell just taught the world a lesson of "only the magic and the only beauty", if you want to solve the problem in the "real sense", you must directly solve the person who raised the problem, so that there will be no more "problems". Although chairman Mitho's mysterious operation is extremely irresponsible, it vividly displays the image of the "hegemon" of the Korean chaebol group.
In this way, under the leadership of the new construction director, the prototype of the five-storey department store building gradually took shape. Originally, Li Wei planned to build a fifth floor as an ice rink, but it was also temporarily adjusted to a gourmet floor that can accommodate 8 merchants. Only because the income from the ice rink is far less than that of rent collection.
Li Tao's wayward idea has brought "prosperity" to this department store building at the same time, but also triggered a series of "crises". In December 1989, Mitutoyo Department Store was fully completed and officially opened, because of its high-end positioning, wide range of categories, food, drink and entertainment, so it became one of the most popular department stores in Korea at that time. Compared with the once-popular Lotte Department Store, the influence of the two in South Korea has always occupied the top two in the industry.
Figure 4
According to statistics, in the first week of business, Mitutoyo Department Store broke through the industry's highest passenger flow of 40,000 people, and the weekly turnover generated was as high as 4 million US dollars, which is a veritable "profiteering" department store, to know that it was the economic environment of the 90s, the daily average can reach 500,000 US dollars of enterprises, even if it is not ranked among the industry leaders, the business leaders are definitely "dragon phoenix among people".
Is Li Tao's idea completely correct? At least from the current profitability point of view, there is nothing wrong, but from the long-term interest point of view, the safety hazards brought by this mall when it is full of high customers will become the fundamental factor restricting the development of Mitutoyo Department Store.
The building collapsed in an instant, and hundreds of thousands of people were buried
On the evening of June 29, 1995, The A block of the Mittomu Department Store suddenly tilted, and in less than 20 seconds, the entire building fell into the underground negative layer as if it had been hollowed out of the bottom, and at that time, 1500 people were pressed alive underneath.
Figure 5
It turned out that as early as April 1995, there was a crack in the roof at the top of the Sanfeng Department Store, when the health personnel reported the problem to the person in charge of the mall at the first time, but it did not attract the attention of the senior leaders.
Because they have no fear, no architectural cultivation at all, and do not understand how much impact a crack can bring, so this problem is exposed to the sun and no one cares.
Until the morning of June 29, the crack in the top floor of the fifth floor suddenly became larger, and the person in charge of the mall had to take emergency measures in this special situation. But what are the most important measures taken by the person in charge of the mall? Is it a closure or an emergency evacuation of the crowd?
Regrettably, neither is true. At that time, the person in charge of the mall only closed the passage to the roof on the 5th floor and the valve port for transmitting the air conditioner, and did not do any substantial remedial work, so that the best evacuation time given by the heavens was missed.
After all, if you want to let the mall of Rijin Doujin close, no mall executive can bear this responsibility, nor can he offend chairman Li Wei. Seeing that the evening peak is approaching, more and more people are coming to the mall to shop and eat, and the ceiling on the fourth floor is also falling, and the hygienists are also extremely worried about the "numbness" of the management while clearing the obstacles, and finally it is time to come.
Figure 6
At 5:57 p.m., without any anticipation by all the shops and managers, the five-story department store collapsed in an instant, and in just 20 seconds, it all fell into the minus four floors underground, leaving only the stairs on both sides of the main part of the mall, standing alone on both sides of the crumbling.
Soon thick smoke intertwined with dust over the department store, and the cries of crying and desperate cries for help, mixed with the whistles of ambulances and police cars, lit up the entire Seocho area. Suddenly, the overwhelming media workers also rushed to the scene of the accident and described the thrilling disaster in the most exciting language.
According to official statistics, when the department store collapsed, at least 1500 clerks and customers were trapped inside, and under the excavation and rescue of the police and medical staff for more than 20 days, more than 502 Seoul people were killed here, and the incident became one of the building collapse accidents that shocked the world.
From being forced to modify the foundation to building illegally to opening its doors, Mityutoyo Department Store has been in operation for a total of 5 years, and counting the more than 500 Seoul citizens who died innocently here, an average of 100 people die at Mitutoyo Department Store every year. The more capital-wielded the enterprise, the more fearless it is.
Figure 7
They disregard the well-being of the people and the safety of life and property, put their interests above the people, and have long lost the basic morality of being human. At this point, if Mitutoyo Group cannot give the public a satisfactory explanation, the future development of the entire enterprise is afraid that it will face the risk of being sanctioned by the public and other domestic chaebol groups.
But the fragile people of Seoul, ignorant of the power of the chaebols, are eager for compensation that is nothing more than a little "fly-headed rat profit" of the Mitoyo clique.
What they are looking forward to is sanctions according to law, in South Korea, where the french faith is weak, they can only be sentenced to ten years and eight years at most, to know that it is more than 500 lives, leaving aside the more than 1,000 old, weak, sick and disabled families, how should those families who are forced to tear apart face the challenges of their past lives?
Some of them are family supporters, some are only children, and some are dream-chasing young people who are about to enter the university campus. Unfortunately, their families will always carry this unforgettable pain, and whenever they pass by the Mitomo Accident Monument, their hearts will be repeatedly poked by the day of the accident in 1995.
Figure 8
So then again, is there another reason for this tragic accident? How exactly was the Mitutoyo Department Store accident tried?
Greedy boss a word, fame and fortune eventually become an empty
According to the results of the police investigation, the land originally purchased by Mitutoyo Group was not suitable for the establishment of shopping malls, but because of the wealth and multi-party connections of Li Tao, chairman of Mitutoyo Group, he bought the relevant leaders of Seocho District, so he obtained the right to commercially reconstruct the land.
But at this point, some people may question, if you insist on building a shopping mall, you will build it according to the formal procedures, why did you build such a "tofu slag project" in order to save money?
The fact is far more complicated than imagined, because the idea of building a shopping mall at that time was temporarily proposed by Li Tao, before which Mitutoyo Group had built four underground floors, and if in order to rebuild the ground building structure, it would cost a lot of money to forcibly demolish the four layers of foundation that had been laid, because the foundation part was one of the most expensive parts of the entire construction project. Unfortunately, people's will often does not depend on things, Li Tao said that if you want five layers, you will have five layers, and you must add another layer on the premise of rebuilding the foundation without spending money.
Figure 9
To know that it is more than 3,000 tons of weight, even if the original foundation is intact, but also to add some necessary pillars to ensure the safe implementation of this building, but incredibly, Mitutoyo Group in the implementation process, not only did not add more pillars, but most of the load-bearing pillars on the ground were removed, just to meet the aesthetics of the mall.
Incredible, right? Such a crisis design, there are even construction companies willing to undertake, if this is not the power of money, what people are willing to easily believe it?
Next there is more jaw-dropping things, the original fifth floor as a catering floor, has been beyond the limit of the setting, but in order to meet the winter warm summer cool settings, Mitutoyo Group also deployed on the roof of the building weighing 29 tons of 3 air conditioners, the weight of these three air conditioners after filling the water, enough to reach 87 tons, so that the weak foundation after bearing the additional weight of more than 3,000 tons, and then added dozens of tons.
Nowadays, it seems that the Sanfeng Department Store building can last until 5 years before collapsing, and it is all to complete its "mission".
It is only this "mission" that has affected the happiness of hundreds of families, and it is a deep sin and an unforgivable sin. Do you think that the operation of the Mitho Group knowingly committed crimes must have touched the highest punishment or death penalty in South Korea?
Figure 10
However, as a director of the Mitoyo Group, Li Was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison for indirectly related to the mall murder, Li's son was sentenced to 7 years in prison for manslaughter, and the government official who had been bribed by Li Was only sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined 2 million won.
Later, after the father and son were released from prison, they sold all the assets held by Sanfeng, and after making up for the loss of the victim's family, they chose to live in seclusion overseas and disappeared from people's vision. Even if the chaebol has a bad fate, he still has the opportunity to survive.
Come to think of it, life is uncertain, and sometimes it may be an inconspicuous idea or a crucial sentence that changes a person's fate. Lee's words not only changed the lives and destinies of many Seoul citizens, but also completely changed the fate of the Mitoyo Group.
There is a saying: "Has always been greedy, read this like shame", once people are blinded by money and interests, they lose the ability to perceive the truth, goodness and beauty of this world, everything in this world, or rare treasures or thousands of family business, have a specific host, not your even if you force it will leave you, it is your you who will not be able to break free, therefore, do things to respect the law of energy conservation, be a person who follows the rules step by step, must not cross the line because of greed, otherwise it will only exhaust the merits of this life. Eventually fell into the abyss.