'Humidifier Disinfectant' SK Chemicals and Aekyung Industrial Former CEOs Acquitted

Former CEO Ahn, who was indicted on charges including involuntary manslaughter related to the humidifier disinfectant incident, is leaving the court after being acquitted in the first trial on the 12th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court acquitted former executives of Aekyung Industrial and SK Chemicals who were involved in the "humidifier disinfectant" incident that caused numerous casualties.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 23 (Presiding Judge Younggeun Yoo) on the 12th acquitted former SK Chemicals CEO Jiho Hong and former Aekyung Industrial CEO Yongchan Ahn, who were indicted on charges including professional negligence resulting in death, stating that "the prosecution's facts were not sufficiently proven." Former CEO Hong and former CEO Ahn were tried for selling humidifier disinfectants containing chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMIT) and methylisothiazolinone (MIT), which caused casualties. CMIT and MIT are different substances from polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) or oligo(2-(2-ethoxy)ethoxyethyl)guanidine (PGH), the raw materials of humidifier disinfectants for which some manufacturers' officials were previously convicted.

At the time when the harmfulness controversy first arose in 2016, they avoided responsibility on the grounds that the toxicity of the substances was not clearly proven. However, as epidemiological research data on the harmfulness of CMIT and MIT accumulated in academia and the Ministry of Environment submitted related research data, the prosecution reopened the investigation at the end of 2018 and indicted them in July last year. In the previous sentencing hearing, the prosecution requested five years imprisonment each for former CEOs Hong and Ahn. In addition, about ten officials from Aekyung Industrial, SK Chemicals, and E-Mart were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years and six months to five years.

After the verdict, the victims protested, saying, "We cannot accept the ruling." Jang Dongyeop, secretary-general of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, criticized the court's failure to recognize the causal relationship between chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMIT) and methylisothiazolinone (MIT) and lung disease, saying, "The harmfulness of CMIT and MIT has already been reported in academia, and there is sufficient evidence. I want to ask how it can be judged that there is no guilt."

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