Translation result.
Once again, it was Daejeon.
An explosion at Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon plant on the 1st killed six workers and injured one. The victims had gone to work to begin a normal day. Instead, their workplace became a scene of death.
Immediately after the accident, Hanwha Aerospace said it had regarded the cleaning process as a low-risk operation, reasoning that contact with water neutralizes explosive components and therefore the task was considered relatively safe.
But the outcome tells a different story.
An explosion in the area labeled low-risk was powerful enough to collapse part of the building, and six workers lost their lives.
This is the source of the public’s profound dismay.
After every accident, companies say they were taken by surprise. Authorities promise to investigate the cause and propose measures to prevent recurrence. Yet as time passes, similar accidents recur.
What makes this even more painful is that this is not the first time.
The same plant experienced an explosion in 2018 that killed five people, and another in 2019 that killed three. At the time, officials pledged stronger safety management and measures to prevent recurrence.
Did those promises actually hold up on the shop floor?
Residents of Daejeon have already witnessed too many tragedies.
Seven people died in the fire at the Hyundai Premium Outlet, and the fire at Hankook Tire’s Daejeon plant plunged the community into fear. The Daedeok Industrial Complex has seen repeated fires and explosions, large and small.
Each time an accident occurred, officials talked about safety inspections and policy reforms, but public attention faded and another accident followed.
Reporters at the scene asked a simple question.
Was this really a low-risk task?
Company officials failed to give a clear answer.
So now we must ask different questions.
What evidence led them to judge the task as not risky?
Was the risk assessment appropriate?
What changed after the 2018 and 2019 accidents?
Was there truly no opportunity to prevent repeated accidents?
If we don’t get answers to these questions, this accident will remain just another statistic.
President Lee Jae-myung warned, \”It is a serious problem when the same type of accident repeatedly occurs at the same workplace.\”
He is right.
Repeated accidents are not coincidences. They are systemic failures.
Offering prayers for the victims is not enough. True mourning requires pressing for answers about why they had to die.
It also requires taking steps to ensure that no one else dies for the same reasons.
Daejeon must no longer bear the stigma of being a city where accidents repeat.
This time, determining the cause, holding those responsible accountable, and implementing measures to prevent recurrence must not end as mere announcements.
Only then can this loss be prevented from becoming a prelude to further tragedy.
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