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SEOUL: A South Korean appeals court drastically cut the sentence of a battery company CEO on Wednesday (April 22) after his conviction over one of the country's deadliest industrial disasters in years.
In June 2024, a fire ripped through an Aricell lithium battery factory in the city of Hwaseong, killing 23 people, mostly Chinese nationals.
A court sentenced Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan to 15 years in prison in September last year, saying the company's practices had prioritised profit over worker safety.
On Wednesday, the Suwon High Court reduced his sentence to four years on appeal, a court representative told AFP.
Park's son, a company executive, also had his jail term cut from 15 years to seven, he said.
The Yonhap news agency reported that the appeals court ruled there were "insufficient grounds" to conclude that Park had intended to evade liability under one of the laws he was charged with violating, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.
The court also said it had taken into account a collective settlement reached between the defendants and the families of the victims, news agency Newsis reported.
An attorney representing the families called the ruling "the worst sentencing in an industrial accident case".
"The judge ruled the defendant has not violated the emergency exit requirement law. But 21 victims died because the internal structure blocked the emergency passage," attorney Son Ik-chan told AFP.
"I want to ask whether this ruling meets common sense."
Prosecutors at Park's trials had sought a 20-year sentence, arguing that he had illegally hired foreign workers without adequate safety training and had dismantled fire safety structures inside the plant to boost production.
At his final hearing for the initial trial in July, Park apologised to the families, saying "no words can be enough" to ease their pain. - AFP
