Park Soon-kwan, CEO of Aricell, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the first trial court under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act over a factory fire that killed 23 people, had his sentence significantly reduced to four years on appeal.
The First Criminal Division of the Suwon High Court (presided over by Judge Shin Hyun-il) on Monday overturned the lower court ruling and sentenced Park to four years in prison on appeal for charges including violations of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (industrial accident homicide), the Dispatched Workers Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The first trial court had sentenced Park to 15 years in prison, the heaviest sentence handed down in any case prosecuted since the Serious Accidents Punishment Act took effect.
"The fire in this case resulted in the deaths of 23 people and injuries to nine others, which is an extremely grave outcome," the appeals court said. "However, it appears that Park Soon-kwan's decision to entrust a substantial portion of Aricell's operations to his son was based on management judgment, and there is insufficient basis to conclude that he intended to evade responsibility under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act or the Dispatched Workers Act."
The court added, "Given that the defendant had to some extent established safety and health policies and objectives, it is difficult to recognize the obligation to install, use, and maintain emergency exits and escape routes, which serves as the premise for the duty to establish evaluation criteria for safety and health management officials." It continued, "In light of the fact that Aricell had lawfully outsourced safety and health duties to external specialized institutions in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act, it is difficult to recognize a direct causal relationship with the casualties resulting from this fire, and therefore we find him not guilty on these charges." The court also noted, "While some bereaved families of victims are petitioning for punishment, we take into consideration the fact that the defendants have reached settlements with all injured victims."
The appeals court also overturned the lower court's ruling that had sentenced Park's son, Park Jung-eon, head of Aricell's general headquarters, to 15 years in prison and a fine of 1 million won on charges including violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and professional negligence resulting in death and injury. He was instead sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 1 million won. "Even when determining a single sentence by applying aggravation for concurrent crimes to the defendant, the statutory sentence prescribed by law for each individual crime and the corresponding degree of responsibility must still be considered," the appeals court said.
The "Hwaseong Aricell Factory Fire" occurred on June 24, 2024, on the second floor of Building 3 at the Aricell factory located in Jeongok-ri, Seosin-myeon, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The accident killed 23 workers (five Koreans, 17 Chinese, and one Laotian) and injured nine others.
