South Korean executive handed seven-year jail sentence over humidifier cleaner deaths

A South Korean court sentenced the former head of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser to seven years in prison on Friday after the company’s disinfectant for humidifiers killed scores of people and left hundreds with permanent lung damage.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Shin Hyun-woo, Oxy chief from 1991-2005, was guilty of accidental homicide and falsely advertising the deadly product as being safe even for children. Seven years is the maximum prison term the court could issue.

Choi Chang-young, chief judge of the case, said the disaster could have been prevented if Shin and others in the company, a subsidiary of British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser Group, had tried to ensure the chemicals’ safety.

Former and current officials at Oxy’s research and development department were also sentenced to prison terms of between five and seven years. However, the judge acquitted John Lee, who was chief at Oxy Reckitt Benckiser from 2005 to 2010, citing a lack of evidence proving he know about the products’ risks while in charge because he was only overseeing sales and marketing.

Executives at Lotte Mart, Homeplus and other retailers were also found guilty and sentenced to prison terms of three to five years for selling the toxic product without assuring its safety.