[News Terms] "The Government Also Bears Liability"... 'Humidifier Disinfectant' Incident

The court has issued its first ruling that the state also bears compensation responsibility for victims or bereaved families affected by humidifier disinfectants. This comes about 13 years after the incident was first made public in 2011, and 6 years and 6 months after the enforcement of the "Special Act on Relief for Victims of Humidifier Disinfectants" in August 2017.

This case officially came to light in April 2011 when Seoul Asan Medical Center reported to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an increase in pregnant patients with severe pneumonia of unknown cause, primarily presenting acute respiratory failure, prompting an epidemiological investigation. In August, the government identified humidifier disinfectants as the likely cause, and by November of the same year, began recalling six humidifier disinfectant products sold by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, Lotte Mart, Homeplus, and others. It was only in February of the following year that animal experiments confirmed the toxicity of PHMG (polyhexamethylene guanidine) phosphate and PGH (chloromethylisothiazolinone), chemicals used in humidifier disinfectants. From 1994, when SK Chemicals (formerly Yukong) first developed them, until sales were halted in 2011, about 600,000 units of 20 types of humidifier disinfectants were sold annually in Korea, with an estimated 8.94 to 10.87 million users.

On the 11th, at the courthouse intersection in Seocho-gu, Seoul, victims of humidifier disinfectants and environmental activists held a press conference ahead of the sentencing trial for humidifier disinfectant cases involving SK, Aekyung, and E-Mart. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Initially, the Fair Trade Commission only imposed a fine of 52 million won on four companies, including manufacturer Oxy Reckitt Benckiser and retailer Homeplus, for falsely labeling humidifier disinfectants as safe. The "Humidifier Disinfectant Victims and Families Association" and the Citizens' Center for Environmental Health filed the first damages lawsuit against the state and companies that manufactured and distributed humidifier disinfectant products in January 2012. A government-led victim survey only began after the National Assembly passed the resolution on relief for humidifier disinfectant victims in 2013. The prosecution formed a dedicated investigation team in 2016 and indicted 21 representatives and officials from Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, Lotte Mart, and Homeplus on charges including professional negligence resulting in death. Among them, former Oxy Reckitt Benckiser CEO Shin Hyun-woo was sentenced to six years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2018. Former SK Chemicals CEO Hong Ji-ho and former Aekyung Industrial CEO Ahn Yong-chan were acquitted in the first trial in 2021 but were each sentenced to four years in prison in the second trial in January this year.

With the enactment of the "Special Act on Relief for Victims of Humidifier Disinfectants" in February 2017 and its enforcement in August of the same year, the Relief Fund Management Committee was established. The Ministry of Environment collected 125 billion won in relief contribution fees from 18 businesses that manufactured and sold humidifier disinfectants. As of the end of last year, the number of eligible victims reached 5,691, including 1,262 deaths.

In the initial damages lawsuits filed by victims and bereaved families, the first trial in 2016 recognized the manufacturers' liability for compensation but dismissed claims against the state due to insufficient evidence. Subsequently, five plaintiffs appealed only the part of the ruling that dismissed the state, and the second trial has been ongoing. On the 6th, the court recognized the state's liability for compensation, stating that "the exercise of public officials' discretionary power in the toxicity assessment and disclosure process of chemicals such as PHMG and PGH was flagrantly unreasonable, lacking social validity and objective justification, thus illegal." However, since two of the five plaintiffs had already received substantial relief payments under the Humidifier Disinfectant Relief Act, which are of the same nature as consolation money, they were excluded. The court ordered the remaining three plaintiffs to be paid between 3 million and 5 million won each.