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| ▲ Chung Do-won (C), chairman of Sampyo Group, appears for a court hearing for his trial on charges of violating a workplace disaster law in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, on Feb. 10, 2026. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Sampyo Group chairman-industrial accident
(LEAD) Sampyo Group chairman acquitted in 1st workplace disaster law case
(ATTN: ADDS more details from 3rd para)
UIJEONGBU, South Korea, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- A court on Tuesday acquitted the chairman of a construction materials group of violating a workplace disaster law following a deadly quarry landslide that claimed three lives in 2022.
Prosecutors had sought a four-year prison term for Chung Do-won, chairman of Sampyo Group, on charges of violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act for allegedly failing to comply with safety requirements, marking the first case under the law that went into effect in early 2022.
On January 29, 2022, just two days after the law went into force, a landslide at a quarry slope operated by Sampyo Industry in Yangju, north of Seoul, killed three workers who had been conducting demolition work.
The Uijeongbu District Court handed down the acquittal for Chung, ruling that he could not be clearly identified as a person in a position to effectively carry out duties stipulated by the law as argued by the prosecution.
It also found former Sampyo Industry CEO Lee Jong-shin, as well as the company itself, not guilty of violating the workplace disaster law.
Under the law designed to better protect workers from industrial accidents, owners or the responsible managing officers of companies can face a minimum one-year prison sentence or a fine of up to 1 billion won (US$687,000) in the event of serious workplace disasters.
The court still fined Sampyo Industry 100 million won for violating the occupational safety and health law.
It also found four company officials guilty on charges of death by occupational negligence, sentencing a safety manager to a suspended two-year prison term.
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