Pohang Steelworks Fire... Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Urges "Countermeasures and Prompt Recovery"

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Bang Moon-kyu urged that all efforts be made to establish measures to prevent recurrence, expedite recovery, and minimize production impact regarding the POSCO Pohang Steelworks fire incident.

On the morning of the 23rd, POSCO Pohang Steelworks in Pohang, Gyeongbuk, was covered in smoke due to a fire. Police and fire authorities announced that initial extinguishing was completed around 8:50 a.m. that day. Photo provided by a reader [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 23rd at 12 PM, Minister Bang held an emergency video conference between the government Seoul office and POSCO Pohang Steelworks concerning the fire at POSCO Pohang Steelworks.

During the meeting, Minister Bang reviewed the damage and recovery status of the facilities that had suspended operations, including the blast furnace and some product production lines, as well as the potential impact on production. He urged POSCO, saying, "Please devote all efforts to identifying the cause of this accident, establishing measures to prevent recurrence, expediting recovery, and minimizing production impact." He added, "Pohang Steelworks is a key base for steel production in our country, and even a temporary suspension of operations could have ripple effects on demand industries such as shipbuilding and automobiles," emphasizing, "It is necessary to prepare more thoroughly so that stable operations can be maintained even in the event of disasters or accidents."

Earlier, at around 7:07 AM on the same day, POSCO Pohang Steelworks experienced a power outage due to a fire, which caused production facilities to halt operations. After extinguishing the fire, the facilities are being sequentially restarted through power resupply.

The fire authorities mobilized 33 fire trucks and over 100 firefighters from the 119 Special Response Team and the Pohang, Gyeongju, and Yeongcheon fire stations, completing initial extinguishing in about 1 hour and 40 minutes. No fire mobilization orders or response stages were issued due to this fire. No casualties or resident damages have been confirmed so far.

The police estimated that the fire started when a spark occurred as gas leaked due to a damaged line pipe inside the POSCO factory. POSCO notified via internal text message, "A fire broke out near Blast Furnace No. 2, causing a power outage throughout the steelworks," and announced, "Please completely suspend the use of by-product gas."

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