Fire Breaks Out While Charging New Battery: "I Trusted Coupang and Bought It"

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Last month, a fire broke out at a theme park in Danyang, North Chungcheong Province, causing more than 600 million won in property damage. The fire started from a blower battery that had never been used before. The theme park requested related information from Coupang, where it ordered the product, but has yet to receive any explanation.

Reporter Lee Se-hyeon investigated the tip.

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Inside an empty storage room, white smoke rises from a battery being charged, sparks fly, and shortly after, the room fills with smoke.

This footage was captured by a CCTV camera inside a media theme park storage room in Danyang, North Chungcheong Province, on the afternoon of August 23.

The fire that started here was only extinguished after burning down the entire interior.

As you can see, the ceiling, along with the air conditioner, completely collapsed, and the smell of burning is still thick even ten days after the fire.

One storage building and half of the 367-square-meter theme park facility were burned down, resulting in 650 million won in property damage estimated by the fire department.

The fire started while charging a blower battery that had been ordered from Coupang a week earlier.

The battery caught fire just an hour and a half after it was charged for the first time.

The next day, the theme park sent an official certification of contents to Coupang, demanding the disclosure of information such as the battery's country of origin, KC certification information, and the manufacturer.

Coupang suspended the sale of the product the following day and promised to provide an answer within three days, but the theme park has not received any explanation to date.

[Kim Young-deok / Vice President of the Victim Company: (The product page) indicated functions to block overload and overcurrent. Buying things from Coupang (trusting them) has become a sin.]

A Coupang representative stated, "It is difficult to verify the related information because the seller on the platform has not provided an explanation," and only handed over the seller's contact information to the theme park.

[Park Jong-myeong / Attorney Specialized in Fair Trade Act: (Under the E-commerce Act), mail-order intermediaries are required to provide identity information such as name, address, and telephone number, as well as creditworthiness information (to consumers). While platforms generate massive revenues, their protection for consumers is somewhat lacking.]

Coupang stated, "We have implemented all necessary measures as a mail-order intermediary, including suspending the sale of the problematic product," and added, "We will actively cooperate with investigations by investigative agencies and others in the future to determine the cause and provide remedy for damages."

(Reported by Choi Dae-woong | Video by Park Ji-in | Graphics by Kim Min-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.