Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon plant on June 1, 2026, following an explosion there. (Kim Hye-yun/Hankyoreh)
Another explosion at defense contractor Hanwha Aerospace’s plant in Daejeon, the country’s No. 5 city, killed five people Monday, bringing the total death toll from explosions at the site to 13, including five fatalities in 2018 and three in 2019.Hanwha Aerospace has recently emerged as a leader in the country’s cutting-edge defense industry. Yet behind the scenes, its plant has seen a series of workplace disasters that are at odds with the standards expected of a world-class manufacturer.The site of Monday’s explosion was the plant’s tool cleaning area of Building 56. Hanwha Aerospace said this facility, which washes explosive materials from tools used to make rocket propellant, is separated from other buildings.The company added that a management supervisor and six production staff were cleaning tools using water mixed with detergent when a sudden explosion caused a fire. Five workers died and one suffered second-degree burns over his entire body, with one manager who was outside the facility sustaining minor injuries.The workers apparently had no time to escape as the explosion caused flames to instantly engulf them. Police plan to request DNA analysis from the National Forensic Service to identify the victims.Speaking to reporters outside the site of the explosion, Ga Jae-woong, a Hanwha Aerospace senior vice president and manager of the plant, questioned how the explosion occurred. “Trace amounts of explosive material inevitably get on tools used in the propellant production process, so the tools are washed with water mixed with detergent. I can’t understand how the explosion occurred since the hazardous properties of the explosive material disappear upon contact with water,” he said. “We had two major accidents a few years ago, and though we pledged measures to prevent a recurrence, I sincerely apologize that another occurred,” he added. “I’m just perplexed because we initially thought that the process in which today’s accident occurred posed relatively low risk.”Ga declined to disclose details such as what sort of explosive material was involved, only saying that all processes at the workplace are “confidential.”
