S. Korea Top Court Finalizes 4-Year Term for Battery Plant CEO in Fire That Killed 23, Including 17 Chinese Workers
South Korea's Supreme Court on October 20 dismissed appeals from both prosecutors and the defense, finalizing a four-year prison term for Park Soon-kwan, chief executive of battery maker Aricell, over the 2024 Hwaseong plant fire that killed 23 workers. Park had been sentenced to 15 years at first trial; an appeals court reduced the term to four years, and the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld that ruling.
Also finalized were a seven-year prison term and a 1 million won fine for Park's son, Park Jung-eon, an Aricell general manager, and an 800 million won fine against Aricell as a company. The Supreme Court's First Division, presided over by Justice Cheon Dae-yeop, found no legal error in the lower court's judgment and confirmed that Park qualifies as a "management executive" liable under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.
The fire broke out on June 24, 2024, when lithium primary batteries stored on the second floor of Building 3 at Aricell's plant in Seosin-myeon, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, exploded and caught fire, killing 23 workers and injuring nine. South Korean police confirmed that 17 of the dead were Chinese nationals, five were South Korean and one was Laotian; South Korean media reported that 20 of the dead were illegally dispatched workers.
At the first trial in September 2025, the Suwon District Court sentenced both Park and his son to 15 years in prison, the heaviest sentence in a case under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act since it took effect in 2022. The court said a "vicious cycle" — in which companies skimp on safety costs and then use their financial power to settle with victims' families in exchange for leniency — had to be broken, and gave the settlements only limited weight. In April this year, the Suwon High Court cut Park's term to four years: it found it difficult to establish a duty to install emergency exits on the floor where the fire began and acquitted him on those charges, convicting only on counts including failure to establish procedures to identify and address hazards, failure to prepare an emergency manual and failure to budget for disaster prevention. The appeals court also found that the two men had not completely neglected safety management, that settlements had been reached with the families of all 23 victims, and that the fire's spread within about 16 seconds of the explosion should be considered. The son's term was reduced from 15 years to seven.
Bereaved families strongly protested after the appeals court sharply reduced the sentences, and they continued to call for severe punishment ahead of the Supreme Court's final ruling. (GSM, based on Yonhap and South Korean media reports)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 2024 年 6 月火灾后的 Aricell 华城工厂厂房（资料图）· GTV 京畿道厅广播局 摄，CC BY 3.0（维基共享资源）
