South Korea Battery Maker Apologizes for Deadly Fire but Says It Complied with Safety Rules 

Emergency personnel and investigators examine the site the day after a fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell in Hwaseong on June 25, 2024. (Yonhap/ AFP)
Emergency personnel and investigators examine the site the day after a fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell in Hwaseong on June 25, 2024. (Yonhap/ AFP)
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South Korea Battery Maker Apologizes for Deadly Fire but Says It Complied with Safety Rules 

Emergency personnel and investigators examine the site the day after a fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell in Hwaseong on June 25, 2024. (Yonhap/ AFP)
Emergency personnel and investigators examine the site the day after a fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell in Hwaseong on June 25, 2024. (Yonhap/ AFP)

The CEO of a South Korean lithium battery manufacturer apologized on Tuesday following a massive factory fire that killed 23 workers, but said the company had complied with all required safety precautions and training.

The fire on Monday, which began at a factory with 35,000 lithium batteries, produced thick smoke that spread quickly and the workers inside the second-floor location likely lost consciousness and succumbed within seconds, fire officials said.

Firefighters with search dogs combed the gutted structure on Tuesday in Hwaseong, an industrial cluster southwest of the capital Seoul, and found the last person who had been unaccounted for, raising the death toll to 23.

Seventeen of those who died were Chinese, and one Laotian was among those killed. Most of the workers were hired temporarily at the plant packing primary lithium batteries run by South Korea-based Aricell, which is majority-owned by S-Connect.

Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan offered condolences to the workers who were killed and apologized to everyone who had been affected by the accident.

"We will be conscientiously taking part in the investigation by authorities and will do our best to determine the cause of the accident and to take measures to prevent a repeat of such an accident," Park told reporters at the scene of the fire.

Officials from agencies including the National Forensic Service, police and the fire department entered the factory as part of a joint investigation.

The fire was the latest industrial accident in a country where dozens of manufacturing workers lose their lives on the job each year despite repeated calls to improve workplace safety.

"I ask the ministries of labor and industry and the National Fire Agency to conduct an urgent safety inspection and, where there is concern of an accident, take immediate measures," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at a cabinet meeting.

Park, the Aricell CEO, said the company had fully complied with safety procedures and training, but some of the 103 workers at the factory including some of those killed were contract workers dispatched by a manpower company.

Established in 2020, Aricell makes lithium primary batteries for sensors and radio communication devices. It has 48 employees, according to its latest regulatory filing and its LinkedIn profile.

Its parent S-Connect supplies lithium-ion battery parts to Samsung SDI, one of the country's major secondary battery makers, according to S-Connect's website.

Regulatory filings showed Aricell recorded a 2.6 billion won ($1.9 million) operating loss last year on 4.8 billion won revenue, and a 14% increase in accumulated debt to 23.8 billion won. It has recorded net losses every year since its founding.

Shares of S-Connect, registered on the junior Kosdaq index, were trading 1.37% lower on Tuesday after plunging 22.5% on Monday following the news of the fire.

A labor ministry official told Reuters it was investigating whether Aricell complied with safety regulations and gave adequate safety training for temporary foreign workers.

Violations of those regulations are subject to criminal prosecution, the official said requesting anonymity.

Many of the bodies remain unidentified.

Reuters journalists saw some wailing family members trying to enter the site, which had been cordoned off.



Snapback Threat Deepens Iran-West Tensions Amid Warnings and Diplomatic Standoff

Iranians walk past a propaganda mural in Tehran depicting a figure from Persian mythology launching missiles, Wednesday (EPA)
Iranians walk past a propaganda mural in Tehran depicting a figure from Persian mythology launching missiles, Wednesday (EPA)
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Snapback Threat Deepens Iran-West Tensions Amid Warnings and Diplomatic Standoff

Iranians walk past a propaganda mural in Tehran depicting a figure from Persian mythology launching missiles, Wednesday (EPA)
Iranians walk past a propaganda mural in Tehran depicting a figure from Persian mythology launching missiles, Wednesday (EPA)

Tensions between Iran and Western powers have escalated sharply, as the European trio - Britain, France, and Germany - hinted at reactivating the “snapback” mechanism that would automatically reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran. The looming decision has sparked strong reactions from Tehran, with Iranian officials warning of potential retaliatory actions that may come as a surprise to some European nations.

According to diplomatic sources cited by the Associated Press, the foreign ministers of the European trio agreed during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran by the end of August, should no substantial progress be made on the nuclear deal.

The snapback mechanism, part of the 2015 nuclear agreement, allows any signatory to reinstate international sanctions if Iran fails to uphold its commitments. The clause expires on October 18, making this summer a crucial period for decisive action.

In Tehran, the response was swift and stern. Iranian MP Ebrahim Azizi, head of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, denounced the European move as “a hostile political action.”

He stressed that Iran has “multiple options” and would not hesitate to use them if provoked. “The West must refrain from such a step,” Azizi warned, “and if they go ahead with it, our countermeasures may be unexpected for some Europeans.”

Conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan went even further, calling for legislation to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), framing it as a necessary deterrent step.

Earlier this month, Iran’s parliament passed a law to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), requiring all inspection requests to be coordinated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

This move came in response to US airstrikes on Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment site, as well as facilities in Isfahan and Natanz, during a 12-day war initiated by Israel on June 13.

Despite the growing tensions, some Iranian figures are urging a return to diplomacy. Mohammad Sadr, a veteran diplomat and member of the Expediency Council, stressed the need for “serious and urgent” negotiations with the European trio.

“Given the limited time before snapback is activated, Iran must work to create conditions that prevent Europe from taking that route,” Sadr said in a media interview.

The UK, France, and Germany are all original signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal, from which US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018, arguing it was too lenient on Tehran.

Under the agreement, sanctions were lifted in exchange for strict limits on Iran’s nuclear program. The snapback clause allows for the automatic reimposition of sanctions if Iran is found to be non-compliant.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated on Tuesday that the trio is now in a position to justify triggering the snapback. Meanwhile, the ambassadors of the three nations met at the German UN mission this week to discuss the situation. Though no specific conditions were disclosed, the discussions signaled growing impatience with Tehran.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar urged his German and French counterparts to activate the snapback during a meeting on the sidelines of the EU ministerial council in Brussels on Tuesday.

The newspaper reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also discussed the issue with multiple world leaders. A senior Israeli official said: “There are no longer valid excuses to delay reimposing sanctions.”

He added that Iran’s previous threats to enrich uranium to 90% are now considered irrelevant. “Even the US now supports the snapback, and the Europeans are inclined to follow suit.”