Prime Minister Kim: "Sorry for the vicious cycle of the Coupang logistics center fire... Will increase business owners' responsibility"

The 131st National Issues Inspection and Coordination Meeting

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum is speaking while presiding over the Government Policy Coordination Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 19th. August 19, 2021. Photo by Yonhap News

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on the 19th, "We will strengthen management and supervision, such as establishing fire prevention plans for logistics centers and conducting special fire inspections, and devise measures to increase the responsibility of business owners for safety."

On the morning of the same day, Prime Minister Kim chaired the 131st Government Policy Coordination Meeting at the Government Seoul Office and said, "We had to endure the pain of losing precious lives in the Coupang logistics center fire in Icheon last June," adding, "Every time we prepared countermeasures, we promised that 'there will be no more tragedies and we must make it so,' but I feel heavy-hearted and sorry to the people because we have not been able to break the vicious cycle of accidents."

After the Coupang logistics center fire accident, the government conducted intensive inspections on fire management practices at 660 logistics centers nationwide. Prime Minister Kim said, "Violations were detected at more than half, about 440 locations," and added, "While there were shortcomings in the system, we confirmed once again that the biggest problem was the lack of safety awareness on site."

He continued, "The government has prepared a comprehensive plan focusing on securing on-site compliance with safety rules with the determination that this will be the last time, and also supplementing institutional shortcomings," adding, "We will actively pursue institutional improvements that can guarantee safety, such as establishing fire safety standards tailored to the characteristics of logistics centers."

Meanwhile, the government has designated a special promotion period for the 'National Safety Inspection' from the 23rd of this month to November 15th. Prime Minister Kim said, "We will conduct large-scale inspections on facilities with high accident risk, including fire-vulnerable facilities such as old shopping malls and traditional markets, large construction sites where serious accidents frequently occur, and multi-use facilities such as campsites and pensions," adding, "The results will be detailedly disclosed to the public, and thorough measures will be taken to prevent accidents for facilities requiring repairs and detailed inspections."

Regarding measures to improve the child abuse response system, he said, "Since most child abuse occurs repeatedly in hidden and secret places, we will focus more on establishing a more detailed system for discovering and protecting children at risk to prevent abuse and detect early warning signs," and added, "We will strive to improve the system so that the perception that child abuse is a 'serious crime' is firmly established."

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