Former prosecutors appointed at firms with high rate of workplace fatalities

The Korean national flag and the prosecution service's flag are displayed at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul in this May 14 file photo. Newsis

Manufacturers and construction firms are vying to hire former high-ranking prosecutors in a bid to better shield management from legal liabilities when workplace accidents occur, according to industry officials, Tuesday.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), which supervises HD Hyundai’s shipyards, recently appointed Ko Heung, former head of the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office, to lead its compliance management department following his resignation as Sampyo Cement & Energy’s outside director.

Ko, who served as a member of the labor ministry’s task force on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (SAPA) in January last year, joined the cement firm’s board in March of last year. This came after an accident that killed three workers in January 2022 led Sampyo to become the first company to come under investigation for an alleged violation of the SAPA.

The law states that a company’s CEO can be sent to jail if a serious worksite accident occurs when the company has not taken sufficient safety precautions. Sampyo Chairman Chung Do-won was, therefore, indicted for an alleged violation of the law.

Given that a significant number of fatal industrial accidents occur at shipyards, HD KSOE’s hiring of Ko is considered to counter potential legal proceedings stemming from violations of the SAPA. HD Hyundai has already tasked several former high-ranking prosecutors with serving as outside directors of its affiliates.

Sampyo also appointed Jo Jong-tae, former head of the Gwangju High Prosecutors’ Office, as Ko’s successor, during an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, Tuesday.

“Jo is expected to help the management to take lawful and ethical directions and to play an important role for the company’s growth and protection of shareholders’ rights,” the cement firm said in its regulatory filing.

GS E&C also appointed Hwang Cheol-kyu, former head of the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office, as its outside director earlier this year. The company has been criticized for a collapse at an underground parking garage of an apartment complex in Incheon, which was under its construction management last year.

HDC Hyundai Development Company, which has been involved in two collapses, one in 2021 and one in 2022, which took 15 people’s lives, had former Vice Justice Minister Kim Joo-hyun as its outside director until he became the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs last month.

Samsung C&T also gave a board seat earlier this year to Kim Kyung-soo, who previously headed the high prosecutors’ offices in Daejeon, Busan and Daegu. He is known as a lawyer with expertise in serious industrial accidents, taxation and antitrust regulations.