Overview
- An explosion at Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon facility on Monday killed five workers and injured two others while they were reported to be cleaning propellant residue from production tools.
- Labor ministry safety officials and police carried out search-and-seizure operations at the Daejeon plant and the company’s Seoul headquarters to collect documents and materials tied to cleaning procedures and safety compliance.
- Hanwha Aerospace suspended nonessential operations at nine domestic sites for two days and ordered companywide safety inspections and employee training to check for fire, explosion and other industrial hazards.
- Safety reports show Building No. 56, the blast site, used roughly 8.2 metric tons of cleaning solvents and 36 metric tons of propellant materials per month, including volatile chemicals such as 1,2-dichloroethylene and toluene that can ignite when vapors build up or mix with aluminum powder.
- The plant is a secret-designated defense factory that makes propulsion systems and missile components, and the probe raises risks of legal accountability, wider Hanwha group safety reviews, and potential short-term disruption to sensitive weapons production.