Park Soon-kwan, the chief executive of Aricell, was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison by a South Korean court. His conviction is based on his role in a fatal fire at the company’s battery plant in Hwaseong city. A catastrophic fire was re-ignited on June 24, 2024. Tragically, it took the lives of 23 riders, including 18 foreign workers and injured eight others. This penalty is one of the strongest under South Korea’s industrial safety law. This further illustrates the seriousness of the incident, as well as its great potential impact on workplace safety.
With this ruling, the court made Park Soon-kwan and other Aricell executives personally accountable. Yet, at the same time, they are the ones who created the conditions that ignited this fire. Prosecutors had originally requested a 20-year prison term, emphasizing repeated failures in safety measures that led to the disaster. Park isn’t the only one who’s been punished. His son, who was a senior executive at Aricell, got a 15-year prison sentence and an additional fine of 1 million won for his role.
The blaze started on the factory’s second floor. It was a dangerous oversight at that time, about 35,000 lithium battery cells were housed in the depot. As firefighters fought the fire, they endured extreme conditions. The fire crews may have deployed dry sand to put out the fire since lithium combusts vigorously with water. It was several hours before a massive five-alarm firefighting effort was able to bring the situation under control.
The tragedy has prompted massive public outrage and turned an international spotlight on workplace safety in South Korea. The country is known as the world’s top producer of lithium batteries. President Lee Jae Myung has emphasized that more needs to be done to safeguard workers from fatal accidents and injuries. He has promised to raise penalties against companies that don’t follow safety rules.
Under South Korea’s industrial safety law, business owners and executives can face a minimum of one year in prison or fines up to 1 billion won (approximately $717,000). The charges against Park and his son are extremely serious. This represents a growing commitment on the part of all corporate leaders to be held accountable for the provision of safe working environments.