Fire engulfs Coupang warehouse

Public outcry sparked following the death of a firefighter.

A Coupang warehouse in Icheon caught fire, which sparked a public outcry after it resulted in the death of a firefighter, Yonhap reported.

Public controversy erupted when fire authorities said the sprinklers in the four-story building did not operate for the first eight minutes of the fire. The sprinklers may have been manually turned off after a series of false fire alerts, they added.

Coupang offered condolences to the victim's family and launched a scholarship program under the deceased firefighter's name. However, consumers posted photos of their deleted Coupang accounts on social media in a boycott campaign to protest the company's lax workplace safety measures and the founder's alleged evasion of responsibility.

Coupang Founder Kim Bom-suk quit as chairman of the board on 31 May, but the timing of its announcement coincided with the fire. Some critics suspected that this may be related to an attempt to save him from possible prosecution over an industrial accident.

In January, the National Assembly passed a bill that strengthens the punishment of business owners and CEOs of companies with five or more employees in the event of serious workplace disasters.

Under the new law set to take effect next January, business owners or CEOs could face a minimum one-year prison sentence or up to $915,000 (KRW1b) in fines in the event of deadly on-duty disasters caused by lax workplace safety measures.