‘Goseong·Sokcho Wildfire’ Burning Area Equivalent to 1,700 Soccer Fields... Former and Current KEPCO Employees Acquitted

Law: "Even if defects are acknowledged, be cautious about holding employees criminally responsible"

Former and current KEPCO employees who were prosecuted for negligence in managing utility poles during the Goseong and Sokcho wildfires that burned an area equivalent to 1,700 soccer fields have been acquitted.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Cheon Dae-yeop) on the 18th upheld the lower court's ruling that acquitted seven former and current KEPCO employees indicted on charges including professional negligence causing fire.

They were prosecuted for allegedly neglecting defects in utility poles related to the Goseong wildfire that occurred on April 4, 2019, where an arc spark from a broken power line caused by the neglected defects spread the fire, resulting in property damage worth 89.9 billion KRW, destruction of 1,260 hectares of forest, and injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment to two residents.

The first trial court ruled that it was difficult to recognize professional negligence based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution and acquitted all former and current KEPCO employees. The appellate court also upheld the first trial's decision, stating, "Even if defects are acknowledged, caution is needed in holding individual employees criminally responsible rather than KEPCO itself."

The Supreme Court also agreed with the lower courts' judgments. It ruled, "There is no error in the lower courts' judgments that violates the rules of logic and experience, exceeds the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misinterprets the legal principles regarding the establishment of professional negligence causing fire, professional negligence causing injury, or violation of the Forest Protection Act, which would affect the verdict."

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