Aricell CEO faces arrest warrant over factory blaze that killed 23

Police and the Ministry of Employment and Labor applied for arrest warrants for lithium battery maker Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan and three other executives on multiple charges related to a deadly fire in its manufacturing factory.

Park Soon-kwan, CEO of Aricell, and other executives bow their heads at the accident site in June to issue a public apology following a massive factory fire that killed 23 workers. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors filed for arrest warrants for lithium battery maker Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan and three other executives on Friday on multiple charges related to a deadly fire in the company's manufacturing factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, that killed 23 workers.

The file by the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office came as the police concluded that the disaster had occurred due to “excessive production” and “safety violations” 60 days since it had launched the investigation.

CEO Park faces charges of violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act while his son Park Joong-eon, head of Aricell factory management, and an executive of Meicell, an outsourcing company, are charged with violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Prosecutors filed the arrest warrant for the younger Park and another Aricell executive heading safety for charges of occupational negligence resulting in death.

The probe found that Aricell dispatched unskilled workers who had not received enough safety training to the manufacturing facility as it set a production target of 5,000 batteries a day, which is around double the average.

The excessive target came as Aricell failed to meet standards in quality inspection in its battery delivery to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, with which it had signed a 3.4 billion won ($2.5 million) contract. Aricell had to reproduce them and make deadline.

Police also revealed that Aricell manipulated the quality of its products when the military conducted the quality test before it signed the contract.

The extreme production timeline resulted in a rise in defective products, but Aricell proceeded in production without taking any action, police said.

It was also revealed that Aricell had a smaller fire after a battery explosion on June 22, two days prior to the disaster. The battery was then moved to the second floor and caught a catastrophic blaze in about an hour.

A toxic inferno engulfed a factory owned by Aricell on June 24, claiming the lives of 23 workers and leaving eight injured. Among the 23 fatalities, 18 were foreigners, including 17 Chinese nationals and one Laotian.

BY SARAH CHEA, SON SUNG-BAE [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]