'Humidifier Disinfectant' SK Chemicals and Aekyung Industrial Former CEOs Acquitted (Comprehensive)

Former SK Chemical CEO Hong Ji-ho and former Aekyung Industrial CEO Ahn Yong-chan, who were indicted on charges including involuntary manslaughter related to the humidifier disinfectant incident, are leaving the courthouse after being acquitted.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court acquitted former executives of Aekyung Industrial and SK Chemicals involved in the "humidifier disinfectant" incident, which 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." Eleven others, including officials from Aekyung Industrial, SK Chemicals, and E-Mart, who were indicted together, were also acquitted.

This conclusion contrasts with the Ministry of Environment's official recognition of damages to victims who used products containing chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMIT) and methylisothiazolinone (MIT). The court ruled, "The comprehensive report by the Ministry of Environment, which compiles all tests and research results, is merely a kind of opinion letter that presumes or suggests on existing studies that failed to prove causality," and added, "Causality cannot be recognized based on such presumptions."

Former CEOs Hong and Ahn were tried on charges of selling humidifier disinfectants containing CMIT and 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 and the Ministry of Environment submitted related research materials, 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 of imprisonment each for former CEOs Hong and Ahn. Additionally, about ten officials from Aekyung Industrial, SK Chemicals, and E-Mart were each sentenced to between three years and six months to five years in prison.

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

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.