Prosecutors Indict 5 People Related to ‘Pohang Earthquake Trigger’... Investigation Concludes After 7 Years

Five Officials from Three Organizations Charged with 'Negligent Homicide and Injury'
One Death, 80 Injuries Confirmed Among 81 Victims Identified

The prosecution has completed its investigation and indicted five officials from three organizations, including the lead agency and government-funded institutions, without detention, seven years after the Gyeongbuk Pohang earthquake that occurred in 2017 and 2018. The prosecution decided not to indict officials from government ministries responsible for management and supervision, citing difficulty in finding negligence on their part.

The Pohang Branch of Daegu District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Wan-hee) announced on the 19th that five individuals were indicted without detention on charges of professional negligence causing death and injury related to the Pohang earthquake. The five indicted include the representative and director of the lead agency of the Pohang geothermal power consortium, the research director and participating researcher of a government-funded research institute, and the research director of the university-industry cooperation foundation participating in the consortium.

Previously, in Pohang, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake occurred on November 15, 2017, and a magnitude 4.6 earthquake on February 11, 2018, resulting in one death and over 80 injuries. The prosecution investigated 184 victims presumed to have suffered personal damage and identified a total of 81 victims.

The exterior wall of Handong University damaged by the magnitude 5.4 earthquake on November 15, 2017.
[Image source = Yonhap News]

In March 2019, the government investigation research team announced research findings that the Pohang earthquake was triggered by hydraulic stimulation involving water injection during the geothermal power research project. Based on these results, various lawsuits and complaints were filed, and the prosecution intensified its investigation in December 2019 by conducting raids on the dedicated, lead, and participating institutions of the research project.

The prosecution accepted the government investigation research team's announcement regarding the causal relationship between hydraulic stimulation and the occurrence of the Pohang earthquake. The project leaders are suspected of inadequate response despite the need to halt geothermal power generation and analyze risks after a magnitude 3.1 earthquake, induced around April 15, 2017, seven months before the Pohang earthquake.

Although they internally concluded that the magnitude 3.1 earthquake was an induced earthquake caused by hydraulic stimulation, they reported to the relevant ministries and dedicated agencies as if an unavoidable natural earthquake had occurred. They are also accused of recklessly continuing hydraulic stimulation without considering injection limits, injecting 1,722 tons during the fifth hydraulic stimulation when only 320 tons had been planned.

The prosecution judged that the project leaders were negligent in maintaining and managing seismometers and analyzing induced earthquakes in real time, which they were supposed to observe and analyze. They also applied negligence for inadequately establishing and failing to adhere to the traffic light system, a safety management measure to control induced earthquakes.

However, the prosecution did not indict officials from the ministries and dedicated agencies responsible for the project, considering that they apparently believed the consortium's lead agency's minimized report that the magnitude 3.1 earthquake was a natural earthquake, making it difficult to find foreseeability or negligence regarding the earthquake occurrence.

A prosecution official stated, "We have identified that this disaster was caused by multiple combined negligence during the reckless continuation of the project solely to achieve successful evaluation. We will also make every effort to maintain the prosecution to ensure that the defendants receive punishment commensurate with their responsibility."