First Ruling Issued Over 4 Years After Hyundai Outlet Fire That Killed 7

A court has sentenced four officials from prime and subcontractor companies to prison terms, including a 3-year sentence for the head of a fire facility management company, in connection with the 2022 fire disaster at the Daejeon branch of Hyundai Premium Outlet that killed seven people.

Judge Lee Je-seung of Criminal Division 4 at the Daejeon District Court sentenced the head of the fire facility management company, identified as A, to three years in prison and a firefighting team leader to two years in prison on the 16th, on charges including occupational negligence resulting in death and injury.

The court also sentenced B, the manager of the Daejeon Hyundai Outlet branch, to one year in prison, and the support team manager to one year and six months in prison.

A support team employee was sentenced to one year in prison suspended for two years, along with an order for 80 hours of community service.

Fines of 60 million won and 100 million won were imposed on the corporate entities of Hyundai Department Store and the fire facility management company, respectively.

This ruling marks the court's first judgment in about four years since a fire broke out on the first basement level of the Daejeon branch of Hyundai Premium Outlet in Yongsan-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, on the morning of September 26, 2022, killing seven subcontractor workers and others, and leaving one person seriously injured.

The defendants were indicted on charges of failing to properly manage safety in the underground parking lot where the fire occurred.

At the time, the fire started when high-temperature exhaust heat from a 1-ton cargo truck idling while parked ignited cardboard boxes piled beneath the vehicle. Toxic gas spread throughout the underground parking lot because fire suppression facilities failed to operate for seven minutes after the fire broke out, leading to a major disaster.

The court pointed out that the defendants had a duty to prevent waste paper from being accumulated to prevent fires and their spread, and stated that if the fire receiver and fire extinguishing equipment had been interconnected, operating the emergency broadcast system to secure evacuation time would have had a significant effect in preventing casualties.

The court added that the degree of the defendants' violation of occupational duty of care was not light.

Previously, prosecutors had sought a 4-year prison term for A and a 1-year and 6-month prison term for B.

Prosecutors had also requested the court to sentence the support team manager to two years in prison, the firefighting team leader to three years in prison, the support team employee to a 10 million won fine, and the two corporate entities to fines of 100 million won each.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.