First High-Value Penalty on a Mid-Sized Firm for Air Pollution Crime... 4 Billion Won Surcharge on Dongwha Enterprise

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment has imposed a penalty surcharge of 4 billion won on Dongwha Enterprise for operating an unlicensed air pollutant emission facility and failing to operate its pollution control facilities.

On the 12th, the ministry announced that it had imposed the surcharge on Dongwha Enterprise in accordance with the Act on the Regulation and Aggravated Punishment of Environmental Offences.

This is the first case since the introduction of penalty surcharges under the Environmental Offence Regulation Act in 2021 in which a mid-sized company, rather than a large conglomerate, has been hit with a high-value environmental crime surcharge in the billions of won.

Previous major cases in which the central government imposed such surcharges include Youngpoong Seokpo Smelter (about 28.1 billion won) in November 2021 and HD Hyundai Oilbank (about 176.1 billion won) in August 2025.

On the 8th, as a cold wave hit, steam was billowing from a chimney at the Seoincheon Combined Thermal Power Plant in Seo-gu, Incheon. Yonhap News.

Dongwha Enterprise is a mid-sized company that manufactures board products such as wooden flooring panels (MDF and PB). An investigation found that Dongwha Enterprise’s Bukseong plant and its subsidiary Daesung Wood Industry had mixed waste wood powder, a type of waste, into the heavy oil (bunker C oil) that was being used as a heat source for wood-drying facilities, in order to cut fuel and operating costs.

In this process, hydrogen chloride and other substances classified as specific hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Conservation Act were emitted, and it was confirmed that the unlicensed emission facility had been in operation from November 2020 to October 2022.

At the Asan plant, it was also revealed that a semi-dry reaction tower, which is part of the air pollution control facilities used during incinerator operation, had not been operated for an extended period from November 2013 to April 2022. As a result, hydrogen chloride emissions exceeded the permissible limit of 12 ppm (a concentration of 12 parts per million in air), reaching up to 31.3 ppm.

The ministry stated, "We have applied strong economic sanctions to illegal emissions of specific hazardous substances in the air sector at the same level as those in the water quality sector," adding, "We will continue to respond strictly to air pollution crimes that have a direct impact on public health."

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