Sampyo Industry, plagued by fatal accidents, ultimately faces the first major disaster law case... Embarrassment

On the 11th, officials from the Central Regional Employment and Labor Office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor conducted a search and seizure at the headquarters of Sampyo Industries in Jongno-gu, Seoul, in connection with the quarry collapse accident in Yangju-si, Gyeonggi Province, where three workers died. Reporters are waiting in front of Sampyo Industries. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The CEO of Sampyo Industrial, which has experienced continuous fatal accidents, was booked following the collapse of soil at a quarry in Yangju on the 29th of last month, resulting in the deaths of three on-site workers.

On the 11th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor booked Lee Jong-shin, CEO of Sampyo Industrial, on charges of violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. After seizing the Yangju business office site office following the accident, the Ministry also conducted a raid on the headquarters located in Jongno-gu, Seoul, accelerating the investigation into violations of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

Sampyo Industrial is struggling amid a series of setbacks. Following the quarry fatal accident, the company again drew public attention when it was fined a large amount for collusion in ready-mixed concrete on the 10th.

A Sampyo Group official stated, "The company is currently cooperating sincerely with the investigations by relevant authorities," adding, "We ask for your understanding as it is difficult to disclose our position on matters under investigation."

Over the past two years, Sampyo Group has been recognized as a workplace urgently needing safety measures, with four worker fatalities occurring during this period.

On June 16 last year, a worker at Sampyo Industrial’s Pocheon business site died after being trapped under a pile of stone materials, and three months later, on September 27, a subcontractor employee was struck and killed by a dump truck at the Sampyo Remicon factory in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul.

In March 2020, a subcontractor worker was killed after being hit by a reversing excavator, and in the same year, one person died in a conveyor entrapment accident in May, and another died in a fall accident in July.

Due to these accidents, Sampyo Cement received 471 corrective orders and was fined 430 million KRW following a special inspection by the Labor Office in August last year. Additionally, one safety officer at Sampyo Cement was booked.

Sampyo Group consists of the holding company Sampyo Co., Ltd., and its core subsidiaries including Sampyo Industrial, NRC, Sampyo Railway, Pantrack, SP Nature, Hongmyeong Industry, Daewon Green, and Samcheok ENC.

Sampyo Co., Ltd. established Sampyo Industrial on October 1, 2013, by physically splitting off the aggregate, ready-mixed concrete, and concrete products manufacturing and sales divisions, transitioning Sampyo Co., Ltd. into a business holding company. The origin of Sampyo Co., Ltd. traces back to Samgang Transport, established in December 1966 by the late Jeong In-wook, chairman of Gangwon Industrial Group, who founded Gangwon Coal in 1952 to enter the anthracite coal business and established the company to transport briquettes, the main business at the time.

Samgang Transport changed its name to Sampyo Industrial Co., Ltd. in 1974 and entered the construction materials business, establishing ready-mixed concrete plants in Seongsu and Pungnap in July 1977. As of the end of 2020, Sampyo Group reported total assets of 2.0557 trillion KRW, sales of 1.4452 trillion KRW, and operating profit of 71.9 billion KRW, but recorded a net loss of 46.6 billion KRW. Sampyo Industrial’s total assets were 773.82 billion KRW, with sales and operating profit of 653.449 billion KRW and 1.191 billion KRW, respectively.

The largest shareholder of Sampyo Co., Ltd. is Chairman Jeong Do-won, holding 65.99% of shares. Sampyo Co., Ltd. holds 98.25% of its subsidiary Sampyo Industrial, 65.22% of Sampyo P&C, and 54.96% of Sampyo Cement and its subsidiaries’ shares.

This incident has raised calls for accountability of the owner family, who control the entire group as the largest shareholder of Sampyo Co., Ltd. A Sampyo Group union official lamented, "These accidents were already foreseeable. Even after previous accidents, we strongly demanded the establishment of measures to prevent recurrence, but the workers’ cries were just echoes," adding, "The cause of frequent industrial accidents lies in the irresponsible management of the owner family."

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