Another Explosion at Hanwha Factory, 5 Workers Dead

Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon (left) inspects the site of the explosion at the Hanwha Aerospace factory in Daejeon City, central South Korea, on June 1, 2026. (Yonhap)

JAKARTA - A blast again shook the Hanwha Aerospace factory in Daejeon, South Korea, Monday (1/6). Five people were killed and two others were injured at the defense company's facility, which had experienced fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019.

Yonhap quoted Monday, June 1, reported that the fire authorities received a report of an explosion at 10.59 local time. About 100 personnel were deployed to put out the fire at the scene.

Five victims were found at the scene. Two of them were contract employees in their 20s. The other three were permanent employees, consisting of two in their 50s and one in their 30s.

Two other victims were injured. One person suffered burns over the entire body. Another one suffered minor injuries.

The explosion is suspected to have occurred when workers were cleaning. An official at Hanwha Aerospace said the process was related to rocket propellant residue, a propellant used in rockets.

"Various equipment is made in the rocket propellant production process, and it seems that the explosion occurred during the cleaning of propellant residues," the company official said in a press conference.

Officers managed to completely extinguish the fire at 13.07. Authorities will investigate the exact cause of the explosion.

The incident adds to a list of accidents at Hanwha Aerospace facilities. The plant develops large propulsion engines and surface-to-surface tactical weapons systems.

In 2018, an explosion at the factory killed five people. The following year, another explosion occurred again and killed three workers.

Company officials said Hanwha had spent heavily after the two accidents on making work processes more automated and systematic. However, the process related to this explosion was initially not considered high risk.

The fire destroyed a one-story building with an area of 544 square meters. According to officials, the size of the building was too small to be included in the list of facilities that must undergo periodic safety inspections by the fire department.

Shortly after the explosion, President Lee Jae Myung ordered maximum rescue efforts. He also asked for a thorough investigation and preventive measures so that similar accidents would not happen again.