As concerns persist over recent sinkholes in Seoul, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced that he plans to prevent such accidents by repairing the city's old sewage pipes.

Oh made the announcement after inspecting the excavation site for an underground complex development site in Gangnam, southern Seoul.

The Seoul Mayor said that the city would strengthen ground penetrating radar(GPR) surveys, focusing on large-scale excavation sites, while drastically increasing the budget for repairing old sewage pipes to prevent sinkhole accidents.

He added that recent analysis showed that leaks from old water and sewage pipes were the main cause of sinkholes, but recent large-scale accidents have occurred near large excavation sites.

Oh said the city will conduct GPR surveys once a month for large excavation sites and significantly increase the safety management budget.