SEOUL/HWASEONG, South Korea -- In a detention facility in South Korea, a chief executive sits in police custody, awaiting trial after a fire in his company's factory in June left 23 dead.
The fatal blaze in the industrial zone of Hwaseong, south of Seoul, is just the latest in a string of disasters that have plagued South Korean businesses, claiming nearly 1,000 lives in the last 30 years alone. But the charges laid against Park Soon-kwan, chief executive of small lithium battery maker Aricell, are a first against a CEO, based on a law passed in 2022.
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