The government on Thursday imposed an eight-month business suspension on GS Engineering & Construction Corp. over the collapse of a parking garage at an apartment construction site in Incheon last year.

The land ministry said GS Engineering, along with four smaller consortium partner builders, will be subject to business suspensions over the underground parking garage collapse at the apartment complex site in Geomdan-dong in Incheon, west of Seoul, in April 2023.

GS Engineering and its partners were found have failed to use sufficient metal reinforcing rods and poorly managed the overall construction process.

On Wednesday, the Seoul city government also imposed a separate 1-month business suspension on GS Engineering for negligent safety checks.

In response, GS Engineering issued an apology saying that it "feels the sense of responsibility" as the main constructor of the project but said it will take legal measures against the suspension measure.

GS Engineering said legal action has become unavoidable for the company, arguing that the ministry's decision has not taken into consideration the company's explanations despite repeated efforts in clarifying the company's position. (Yonhap)