Ministry of Environment "Recalculation Order for Aekyung Industrial Humidifier Disinfectant Damage Relief Contribution"

Yonhap News

On the 13th, the Ministry of Environment announced that it will recalculate and reissue the additional contribution fees for humidifier disinfectant damage relief from Aekyung Industrial.

The recalculation of the additional contribution fees follows the Seoul Administrative Court's ruling on the 29th of last month, which canceled the imposition of approximately 10.74 billion KRW in contribution fees on Aekyung Industrial. When the Humidifier Disinfectant Damage Relief Act was enacted in 2017, the Ministry of Environment imposed a total contribution fee of 125 billion KRW on Aekyung Industrial and others. After the funds were depleted, additional contribution fees were notified in February of last year. In response, Aekyung filed a lawsuit in May of the same year, arguing that the total amount and number of contributions were not specified.

The Ministry of Environment decided to accept the court's ruling, which stated that "(the government) issued the disposition by deviating from its discretionary authority and not following procedures," after two weeks of legal review. The Ministry explained that it made this decision based on the judgment that the prompt and fair relief of humidifier disinfectant victims is the top priority. The Ministry plans to promptly recalculate and reimpose the additional contribution fees that Aekyung Industrial and its joint business partner SK Chemical must pay, according to the standards set by the special law.

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