‘First Major Accident Prosecution’ Duseong Industrial CEO Receives Suspended Sentence in First Trial

Changwon District Court, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

The representatives of companies including Duseong Industry, who were prosecuted for causing multiple workers to be poisoned by using a cleaning agent containing toxic substances, were given suspended sentences, while the representative of the company that sold the cleaning agent was sentenced to prison.

They were the first to be prosecuted under the Serious Accident Punishment Act in South Korea.

On the 3rd, the Criminal Division 4 of Changwon District Court in Gyeongnam sentenced the representative of Duseong Industry to one year in prison with a three-year suspension and ordered 320 hours of community service in the first trial.

Duseong Industry as a corporation was fined 20 million won, and DS Korea, known as a subcontractor of Duseong Industry, was fined 5 million won.

The representative of Daehung RNT, who was also prosecuted, was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a two-year suspension and ordered 200 hours of community service.

The representative of Yuseong Chemical was sentenced to two years in prison, and the corporation was fined 30 million won.

The constitutional review request filed by Duseong Industry, claiming that the Serious Accident Punishment Act violates the constitutional principles of clarity, prohibition of excess, and equality, was dismissed.

Earlier, representative A of Duseong Industry and the corporation were prosecuted in June for handling the hazardous substance trichloromethane without installing local exhaust ventilation and failing to take safety and health measures, resulting in acute liver toxicity poisoning to 10 main office employees and 6 subcontracted employees.

Representative B of Daehung RNT stood trial for using the same cleaning agent as Duseong Industry and leaving a local exhaust ventilation system with weak airflow in the workplace, causing 13 employees to be poisoned.

Representative C of Yuseong Chemical, who was detained in court that day, is accused of selling cleaning agents containing toxic chemicals to the two companies and providing falsified Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).

At the trial in September, the prosecutor requested one year in prison for the representatives of Duseong Industry and Daehung RNT, and fines of 20 million won for each corporation.

The prosecutor also requested three years in prison for the representative of Yuseong Chemical, a fine of 30 million won for the corporation, and a fine of 5 million won for DS Korea.

The first trial court stated, “Although Mr. A had already handled several hazardous chemicals before the incident, he failed to fulfill safety and health obligations such as installing local exhaust ventilation, and the workers were exposed to toxic chemicals, suffering injuries of acute hepatitis, so the culpability is by no means light.”

It added, “However, considering that a settlement was reached with the victims before the indictment, the victims petitioned for leniency for Mr. A from the investigation stage, and fortunately, the liver enzyme levels have returned to normal, these factors were taken into account in sentencing.”

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