Prosecutors raided SK Chemicals (currently SK Discovery), Aekyung and E-Mart on Jan. 15 to reinvestigate the case of manufacturing and distributing humidifier disinfectants.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office sent prosecutors and investigators to each of the companies' headquarters to secure information on products, materials, and sales data.
Prior to this, the "humidifier disinfectant disaster national network” filed a complaint with the prosecution in November last year against 14 people, including Choi Chang-won and, Kim Cheol, CEOs of SK Discovery, and Ahn Yong-chan, former CEO of Aekyung..
Unlike Oxy, these companies were not punished for not being able to clearly prove the harmfulness of the materials used in humidifier disinfectants in 2016. However, the situation changed when the Ministry of Environment submitted the results of the research to the prosecution that proved the harmful effects.
SK Chemicals developed Methylisothiazolinone (MIT) and Methylchloroisothiazolinone (CMIT), which are raw materials for humidifier disinfectants, and Aekyung made and sold the humidifier, “Mate” with these materials.
