The Supreme Court of South Korea has finalized the verdict regarding a fatal fire at a lithium battery factory in Hwaseong. The incident resulted in the destruction of over 35,000 lithium batteries and claimed the lives of 23 individuals, including 17 Chinese nationals, five South Koreans, and one citizen of Laos. Eight additional people sustained injuries during the event.
Park Soon-kwan, a company representative, was sentenced to four years in prison, a significant reduction from the initial 15-year sentence handed down in 2025. The legal proceedings focused on severe violations of safety protocols, specifically the failure to maintain accessible emergency exits and the neglect of workplace safety obligations.
The company's CEO, Park Joon-eon, who is the son of the representative, received a 15-year prison sentence and a fine of ₩1 million. Firefighters required more than five hours to extinguish the blaze, which spread rapidly after initial attempts by staff to contain the fire with extinguishers failed due to thick smoke and the nature of the materials.
