Police have booked one factory official on charges of involuntary manslaughter and injury in connection with the explosion at the Hanwha Aerospace Daejeon plant and are currently investigating.
Park Sung-ju, head of the National Office of Investigation (NOI), said at a regular press briefing on the 8th, "We executed search warrants at three locations, including the Hanwha Aerospace Daejeon plant," and stated accordingly.
Deputy Minister Park said, "Given the high public interest, we appointed the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency's chief of investigations as the task force (TF) Head of Team and are investigating swiftly," and added, "We will clearly determine the cause through analysis of seized materials, statements from those involved, and the basic manual."
The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency's dedicated investigation team and the Daejeon Regional Employment and Labor Office conducted searches and seizures on the 4th at the Daejeon plant, Hanwha's Seoul headquarters, and the Hanwha R&D Campus. They are currently analyzing about 5,400 items of documents and electronic data and six mobile phones secured through the searches, including through digital forensics.
An explosion occurred at about 10:59 a.m. on the 1st in the cleaning room of Building 56 at the Hanwha Aerospace Daejeon plant in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. It was determined that the explosion happened while cleaning tools and equipment used in the rocket booster manufacturing process. Five workers were killed and two suffered serious to moderate injuries in the accident.