The government will reinforce punitive measures against builders guilty of poor construction following a deadly accident at an apartment complex under construction in the southwestern city of Gwangju in January.

Announcing a set of punitive and preventive measures on Monday, the land ministry pledged to apply a zero-tolerance approach to prevent a recurrence of such accidents.

Regardless of the existence of illegal subcontracting, the ministry will cancel a builder's business registration in the event of an accident on the site that claims the lives of three or more members of the general public, or five or more laborers. The builder will be banned from new registration for five years.

If a builder is caught for poor construction twice in five years, its registration will be canceled and new registration prohibited for three years.

Currently, such builders are subject to a business suspension of two to eight months.

The ministry will also revise related laws to require a builder responsible for a fatal accident to pay a compensation of up to three times the inflicted damage, without exemptions and regardless of the legality of subcontractor contracts.