3 Years in Prison for Factory Owner in 'Air Gun Assault': 'He Enjoyed Tormenting Workers'

[Anchor]

A factory owner indicted for damaging the internal organs of a foreign worker by spraying an industrial air gun at him has been sentenced to 3 years in prison. The court rebuked him, saying, "It appears he enjoyed tormenting his employees."

Here is reporter Im Jihyeon.

[Reporter]

In February, a Thai national, A, working at an auto parts cleaning factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, was rushed to the emergency room complaining of severe abdominal pain.

Victim A claimed that the 60-year-old factory owner, B, inserted an industrial air gun near his anus and sprayed high-pressure air. A underwent emergency surgery after suffering a rectal perforation about 10 centimeters in size.

After the incident came to light, B claimed that he had simply been carrying a box while holding the air gun, and it accidentally discharged toward A's lower body.

[B / Company CEO (in April): I turned around to work (and bumped into A), and he went, 'Ow.' So I just said, 'What hurts?' and left it at that.]

However, the first-instance court sentenced B to 3 years in prison yesterday, finding him guilty of special bodily injury and assault under the Labor Standards Act.

The court determined that B's statements lacked credibility as his story changed during police investigations, whereas A consistently stated that B inserted the air gun about 2 to 3 centimeters into his anus and sprayed it for about 7 to 8 seconds.

The fact that a perforation occurred only in the rectum without any external trauma around the anal area also served as a basis for the court's judgment.

The court strongly rebuked the employer, stating, "It seems he enjoyed tormenting his employees under the guise of joking," and added, "He even pressured the victim to return to Thailand to cover up the incident."

The court also pointed out that although B reached a settlement with A and submitted a letter of apology, he did not appear to genuinely reflect on his wrongdoing, having deducted a portion of the hospital bills from A's wages.

A's attorney stated that A reacted to the district court ruling by saying, "It seems right," and expressed his desire to return to his home country.

(Video reporting: Kim Se-kyung | Video editing: Kim Jin-won | Design: Lee Jong-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.