By Kim Se-jeong
A group of victims of humidifier chemicals and a civic group filed a new complaint Tuesday against 29 current and former employees of Reckitt Benckiser.
This is the fourth criminal complaint against the British company, whose chemical sterilizers in its humidifiers are blamed for the deaths of at least 100 consumers. The complaint came almost a month after the prosecution put together a new team dedicated to the case.
“The accused were and are in decision-making positions at the company, and we believe they should bear responsibility,” the group said in a statement.
Among the 29, four are still at the company, while the others have retired. Fifteen of them are foreign nationals.
The victims demanded the prosecution summon company executives from abroad for questioning and impose an overseas travel ban on those who are in Korea.
Reckitt Benckiser was one of 13 companies that made and sold the sterilizers that were found to be harmful. More than 1,000 people have claimed to be victims, and confirmed deaths are 143 so far.
Earlier this month, the prosecution raided the Reckitt Benckiser Korea office and other companies are related to the production of humidifier chemicals.