More water leaks were found at Lotte World Mall on Thursday, further raising safety concerns about the new mega shopping complex in Jamsil, Seoul.
Local reports said water was leaking from the ceiling of the basement floor in the evening, about 150 meters away from the leaking aquarium under inspection by the Seoul City.
The latest water leak was fixed in two hours, a Lotte spokesman said.
“There seemed to have been a problem with plumbing on the ceiling. We’re looking into the cause of the problem,” he said.
The government on Friday announced that no structural problems were found during the inspection, but decided to hold a thorough examination for further water leaks.
Earlier this week, the group confirmed that they found that approximately 200 milliliters of water an hour had leaked through cracks in the aquarium tanks inside Lotte World Mall.
Lotte officials explained that the problem was not substantial, saying that the cause of the leak was faulty application of sealant between the acrylic screen and the concrete wall and that there were no structural faults.
A series of safety issues have hit Lotte World Mall and Lotte World Tower under construction adjacent to the mall this year, including sinkholes around the area and cracks in the building.
Before the mall’s opening in mid-October, a number of sinkholes were found in the area. Some experts pointed out the damage was due to the skyscraper’s excessive construction.
In October, cracks were found in the floor of the food court, which the group explained were part of the old-fashioned decoration of the building.
More recently, an employee of a Lotte subcontractor got a minor injury from piece of metal that fell on him from the third floor of the building.
By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)
