Seoul to replace 35 overpass cables after new break — Korea Herald

Authorities in Seoul, South Korea, plan to replace 35 steel cables on the Jeongneungcheon overpass in the city’s northeast by June 2027. The plan was announced after another broken cable was found inside the structure shortly after an inspection that detected no major defects was completed, Korea Herald reports.

New break after inspection

According to Hwang Hee, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, the breakage of one of the cables was discovered after an inspection completed in March 2026. The inspection had been conducted since February 2025, and the overpass received a B rating, corresponding to a satisfactory condition.

This is not the first such case at Jeongneungcheon: in 2024, one of the cables broke about six months after a previous safety assessment that lasted from May 2023 to March 2024. A subsequent examination from September 2024 to August 2025 found 25 corroded or damaged cables, including one broken cable. According to the lawmaker, none of these 25 cables has yet been replaced.

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Replacement plan by 2027

City authorities explained that the 2023 and 2025 inspections did not involve drilling into the structure to examine its interior, so inspectors could not directly inspect the cables embedded in concrete. Seoul said it would replace all 25 damaged cables identified during the 2024–2025 examination, as well as another 10 cables near the site of the previous break.

The six-lane overpass is an important route in northeastern Seoul, with more than 100,000 vehicles using it daily. In 2016, traffic on it was suspended for about a month to replace 32 damaged cables. The city also cited a 2017 study by the Korea Concrete Institute, which concluded that the overpass could remain open while up to four broken cables were being replaced.