By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A provincial court found factory chiefs and senior researchers of Hankook Tire guilty Friday of failing to prevent a series of work related deaths.
The Daejeon District Court sentenced a factory chief, identified as Lee, 52, to eight months in prison suspended for two years and fined him 3 million won. Another factory manager Jung, 47, was given six months in prison suspended for two years as well as a fine of 2 million won.
Those convicted were supervising the factories in Daejeon and Geumsan, North Chungcheong Province, where 14 workers have died in the space of 17 months.
Two senior officials of its research division were also fined 4 million won each. Three executives of the company and its subcontractors were also fined between 500,000 and 4 million won. Hankook Tire itself was also slapped with a 10-million-won fine.
Bereaved family members and co-workers have claimed the main cause of the deaths was toxic chemicals used during the production process, while the company has denied such allegations.
"This case stemmed from a series of sudden deaths and cancers inflicted upon workers. It's difficult to understand that the deaths took place even after the accused fulfilled their supervisory duties," said presiding judge Kang Do-rye in the ruling.
Between May 2006 and September 2007, seven workers at Hankook Tire factories died suddenly without any clear reason.
Following the incidents, the Daejeon regional labor office inspected the workplaces and found that executives had covered up more than 183 industrial accidents since 2005. Thousands of illegal practices that could worsen workers' health were also discovered.
Following the ruling, a spokesman for the company said, "Following the accidents, our working conditions have notably been upgraded. We will decide whether to appeal the ruling after reviewing the court statement."