It turns out that South Korea ’ s construction market is facing a soft landing based on the currently decreasing number of bankruptcies and conflict reports from small and medium - size builders . According to the Construction Guarantee ( CG ) on Tuesday , the amount of guarantees provided for its member construction firms stood at 147 billion won ( $ 131 . 52 million ) , decreasing by 40 % from 242 . 2 billion won in 2009 . The Construction Guarantee provides a certain amount of guarantee money for the contractor when a member builder fails to perform construction orders due to bankruptcy or lack of capital . The number of construction firms that went bankrupt is on a three - year decrease , too , posting 130 in 2008 , 89 in 2009 and 87 last year . Given that there has been no big change in the number of CG members ( 11 , 500 companies ) and investment accounts ( 3 . 91 million ) , the decreases in the number of bankruptcies and amount of guarantees paid are interpreted as a signal that the construction industry is preparing for a rebound from the bottom after a long period of recession in recent years . The number of applications for conflict resolution filed by small builders saw a decline last year , too . According to the Korea Specialty Contractors Association ( KOSCA ) , the number of new applications for unfair trade practices recorded 41 last year , falling from 52 since the opening of the application center in March 2009 . [ Written by Ik - ho Choi - Su - hyun Song / edited by Soyoung Chung ]