Labor authorities raid Hanwha Aerospace over Daejeon factory explosion

Labor authorities raided defense company Hanwha Aerospace on Thursday as part of an investigation into a deadly fire at the company's factory earlier this week. Workplace safety officials from the labor ministry, joined by police investigators, carried out the searches and seizures at the company's headquarters in Seoul and the factory in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of the capital.

An explosion at the facility on Monday killed five people and injured two others. Company officials have said workers were cleaning propellant powder residue from tools used in the production of propulsion systems at the time of the explosion. The authorities plan to secure documents related to the cleaning work and check whether proper safety measures had been observed for the cleaning work.

Prior incidents at the site The Daejeon Regional Office of Employment and Labor said it plans to "thoroughly" investigate the cause of the explosion, vowing to "sternly" seek accountability if any violations of workplace safety laws are found. It marked the latest fatal incident at the factory following an explosion in 2018 that claimed five lives and another explosion the following year that left three people killed.