Criminal Sentences for Occupational Negligence in Korea

The Korean Prosecution Service is aggressively prosecuting those involved in construction-related deaths caused by the Osong Underpass Flooding Disaster. In 2023, nine deaths occurred from the flooding of an underpass in Cheongu City in North Chungcheong Korea that the Korean Prosection claims occurred because of, among other things, negligent construction of an embankment.

The Korean Prosecution indicted 43 executives of related organizations and two corporations responsible for the construction. A project supervisor was sentenced to a four-year prison sentence and a site manager was sentenced to six years in prison. Other cases are ongoing and we shall update the reader when more is known. The six-year prison sentence of the site manager was recently upheld by the Supreme Court of Korea.

Facts

A site manager was indicted on charges of removing part of an embankment on a side of a river without specific permission from authorities. Evidence exposed that installing numerous times a faulty and carelessly built temporary embankment that collapsed led to flooding of the underpass leading to the death of nine people. Additionally, evidence was presented by the prosecution indicating that the site manager instructed company employees to forge documents related to the temporary embankment.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by the Defendant, thus, confirming a six-year jail sentence.

Occupational Negligence in Korea

The main general criminal statute related to occupational negligence is Article 268 of the Korean Criminal Act; Article 2 of the Serious Accident Punishment Act; and Article 2 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Other specific acts govern specific occupations and specific actions.

Please see: Industrial Accident Prevention Act Revised and Korean Criminal Sanctions under the Serious Accident Prevention Act for more details on Korean Industrial Accidents caused by occupational negligence.

by Sean Hayes

Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only a few non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw. Sean is regularly quoted by leading international media sources, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, France 24, and Bloomberg.

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