POSCO E&C CEO Jeong Hee-min bows in apology with company officials on July 29 at the firm’s headquarters in Songdo, Incheon, ahead of delivering a statement on a series of fatal workplace accidents. Earlier that morning, President Lee Jae-myung criticized the company during a cabinet meeting, condemning the repeated industrial accidents at POSCO E&C sites that have resulted in worker deaths this year. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 29 (Korea Bizwire) — POSCO E&C’s chief executive publicly apologized on Tuesday following a series of fatal industrial accidents at company construction sites, drawing sharp rebuke from President Lee Jae-myung, who likened the repeated deaths to “murder by willful negligence.”
At a press conference held at the company’s headquarters in Incheon’s Songdo district, CEO Jeong Hee-min bowed alongside top executives and issued a formal apology. “We deeply regret the tragic loss of life and fully acknowledge our responsibility,” Jeong said. “We will cooperate fully with authorities to determine the cause and provide all necessary support to the victim’s family.”
The apology came a day after a 60-year-old worker was killed at a POSCO E&C construction site on the Hamyang-Ulsan Expressway in South Gyeongsang Province. The worker died after being caught in a drilling machine during slope reinforcement work.
It was the fourth fatal incident this year at POSCO E&C sites, following a fall at an apartment project in Gimhae in January, a collapse at the Shinansan Line construction in Gwangmyeong in April, and another fall at a mixed-use complex site in Daegu, bringing the year’s death toll to four.
President Lee Jae Myung gestures while presiding over a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on July 29, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
During a cabinet meeting earlier that day, President Lee expressed outrage. “Repeated deaths from similar causes signal tacit acceptance,” he said. “In legal terms, this amounts to murder by willful negligence.” He warned of potential punitive damages and market disclosures that could lead to share price declines for companies with poor safety records.
In response, Jeong announced an immediate halt to all work at POSCO E&C sites nationwide, pending comprehensive safety inspections. “We will indefinitely suspend operations until we verify that each site meets the highest safety standards,” he said.
POSCO E&C also pledged to overhaul its safety systems, launching a company-wide task force with external safety experts and regulators. “We will investigate every hidden risk from the ground up and establish a new safety framework to prevent further tragedies,” Jeong stated.
The company vowed to make worker safety its “highest value,” including subcontractors, and promised sweeping reforms. “We will treat this as a turning point and commit every available resource to a fundamental transformation,” Jeong said. “Our company’s fate now depends on making that happen.”
President Lee’s remarks marked one of the strongest presidential interventions on industrial safety in recent memory and signal potential regulatory and financial consequences for companies with repeated violations. Worker deaths at construction and manufacturing sites remain a persistent issue in South Korea, despite tougher laws in recent years.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
