Prosecutors seek 20-year sentence for Aricell CEO over deadly factory fire

Prosecutors on Wednesday requested a 20-year prison sentence for Park Soon-kwan, CEO of lithium battery manufacturer Aricell, over a factory fire that killed 23 workers last year, in what they called the deadliest workplace disaster since the enactment of Korea’s landmark workplace safety law.

“This is the most serious fatal industrial accident since the Serious Accidents Punishment Act took effect,” prosecutors told the Suwon District Court’s Criminal Division. “Most of the victims were undocumented migrant workers trapped in safety blind spots.”

Park faces charges under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. He was indicted last September after investigators found that he had failed to inspect hazardous risk factors or establish adequate emergency procedures at the factory. He was later released on bail and has since been on trial without detention.

Prosecutors also sought a 15-year sentence for Park’s son, Park Joong-eon, Aricell’s head of operations, who was also indicted under the same laws.

“As the company’s top executive, Park Soon-kwan had a legal duty to establish and oversee Aricell’s safety management system,” prosecutors said. “Instead, he neglected this duty, prioritized profit by relying on low-wage labor and shifted responsibility to his son without showing remorse.”

Park Joong-eon, they said, also failed to uphold his responsibilities. 

“He had become desensitized to safety risks and was grossly negligent as a manager, then attempted to avoid accountability after the incident,” prosecutors noted. “The migrant workers who died were casualties of an outsourced labor system, and justice demands accountability proportional to the unprecedented scale of the disaster.”

The fire broke out at Aricell’s Hwaseong plant on June 24 last year at around 10:30 a.m. 

According to the indictment, the company had illegally removed fire compartment walls and erected partitions that blocked emergency exits. One exit was fitted with a lock that only regular employees could open, leaving dispatched workers unable to escape. 

Of the 23 victims, 20 were temporary contract workers, and most were migrant laborers who had only worked at the plant for three to eight months.

Park Joong-eon was charged for failing to implement thermal monitoring systems and battery storage safety protocols, as well as for neglecting fire safety training and evacuation drills.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]