Staff reveal testimony of "earthquake level" tremors and ceiling cracks inside SM building from "idols dancing"

Article: "Idols dancing at SM shook up 33 floors?"... Acro Seoul Tower building tremors mystery

Source: Joongang Ilbo

Staff and residents are expressing anxiety over tremors inside the SM building.

On the 20th, an office worker in the 33-story Acro building complained of anxiety he felt as he recalled the tremors inside the building. That same afternoon, several 119 calls were made from the Acro Seoul Forest D Tower building in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. 

Many residents reported, "I could feel tremors. It was the first time it felt like the building was shaking up and down. I heard the building shook because of idols dancing." 

Several staff also uploaded photos to Blind, an anonymous app for office workers, and revealed photos of broken windows and cracks inside the lobby floor ceiling of the Seoul Forest D Tower. 

As a result, safety examinations were conducted by the construction company and authorities that revealed the main cause of the tremors was from SM's choreography practice room. SM had recently moved into the building. 

DL E&C, a building contractor, issued a statement on 21st and stated, "we conducted an emergency safety diagnosis but couldn't find correlations between tremors inside the building and foundation."

Park Hong-geun, a professor of architecture at Seoul National University who participated in the diagnosis explained in the report, "We believe the tremors were caused by a specific activity inside the building. This office building was completed in December 2020, has 7 basement floors with 33 floors above-ground and currently houses Hyundai Glovis, Socar, and SM Entertainment. There are choreography practice rooms at the 9th, 11th, and 18th floors. There's a possibility the tremors were generated from idol groups dancing in those practice rooms that were more amplified than usual because they coincided with the natural frequency of the building."

Experts explained, "The fire marshals who were dispatched the day of this report also checked the earthquake detection device under the building and no separate tremors were discovered."

In a phone call with Joongang Ilbo on the 23rd, DL E&C revealed, "Ceiling leaks and broken windows are a common phenomena in the interiors during move-in and has nothing to do with the tremors. It also has nothing to do with inferior finishing materials being used in the building's structural layer."

However, despite explanations from the construction company and authorities, staff and residents in the building are still uneasy. Many stated, "If the building shakes because of idols dancing, doesn't that mean it was poorly built in the first place?"

Another resident A in the building stated, "The tremors were so severe I really thought we were experiencing an earthquake. It's difficult to accept their explanations that the building shook up and down to that level because dozens of trainees were dancing at the same time. These are just external opinions anyway, the real cause hasn't been determined yet. I hope they clarify why the building really shook after they do more monitoring and simulations."

Other analysts are comparing the situation to tremors felt in 2011 at the 39-story Seoul Technomart building. At the time, vertical tremors were detected that shook up the building up and down and access to all floors was blocked for 3 days. After investigations, it was revealed that the tremors were caused by 20 people doing aerobic dances at a fitness center on the 12th floor.

Ahn Hyeong-jun, former Dean of Konkuk University College of Architecture stated, "The recent collapse of the new apartment building in Gwangju has made a lot of residents in high-rise buildings feel anxious. They need to thoroughly analyze the tremor cycles and the building structure and install a device to reduce transmission of such tremors in the necessary areas." 

1. [+697, -32] The building shook to that level because of "idols dancing" and they're saying that's ok??? How does that make senseㅋㅋㅋㅋ?
2. [+175, -11] This is serious. Poor construction seems to be exploding worldwide. And yet, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation keeps being too complacent when issuing permits and supervising constructions. They all need to be held accountable.
3. [+116, -5] Didn't they learn from the large-scale disaster that was Sampoong Department strike? This is why the public continues to be anxious with these things because of our backward country. And what does the Ministry of Homeland do? We need to break the dirty chains between politicians and subcontractors, layer and layer, and expose their dirty dealings. The construction industry is seriously a mess...so shameless.
4. [+63, -1] What happened to sustainable design? They just care about more money in their pockets so they use cheap materials and unskilled labor...the unskilled are putting up buildings with zero sincerity. 
5. [+103, -80] This would've been more believable if they said femis were stomping and shaking up the building ㅋㅋ
6. [+40, -20] Does anyone seriously believe such poor explanations? It's so ridiculous for them to claim idols dancing caused shaking to that level on such a massive building. This is 100% defective construction.
7. [+34, -1] The Chinese have been knee-deep in our constructions since 2010...
8. [+18, -1] This is exactly why practice rooms and karaoke rooms need to be on the first or second floors, regardless of whether you rent or own the building. If you put rooms like that in the upper levels, any minor movement from 10 people can shake up the whole building.
9. [+13, -1] How many idols were dancing in SM's practice rooms to have shook up a 33-story building ㅋㅋㅋ. It's clear there are issues with the structure and design of the building. 
10. [+9, -2] Stop with the nonsense..this is akin to saying a Chinese exercising in China would cause earthquakes in our country ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
11. [+5, -0] Looks like we're witnessing the birth of a monster rookie idol that will shake up the world ㅋㅋ