South Korea’s leading defense manufacturer has suspended part of its operations at a classified weapons facility after an explosion killed five workers and injured two.
Hanwha Aerospace CEO Son Jae-il apologized on June 1, 2026, at a briefing held at the site.
“I bow my head in apology to those who lost their perilous lives in the accident that occurred at the Daejeon facility and to their bereaved families,” he said, adding that the company had failed to protect employees at what should have been a safe workplace.
Hanwha Aerospace said in a regulatory filing on June 2, 2026, that it suspended parts of production at its Daejeon site from June 1, 2026, after receiving a suspension order from the Daejeon Regional Employment and Labor Office. The order was issued due to a serious industrial accident under South Korea’s Occupational Safety and Health Act.
“Production is expected to resume after establishing measures to determine the cause of the accident, conducting safety inspections, and preparing measures to prevent recurrence,” the filing said.
Key facility for South Korean defense output
The Daejeon facility is designated as a national high-security defense industry facility. At the site, the company produces the Chunmoo multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS), the long-range surface-to-air missile system known as L-SAM, and the Cheongeom air-to-ground guided missiles. The facility also develops and produces large-scale propulsion systems and handles propellant mixing and loading operations.
In November 2025, Hanwha Aerospace signed a 705 billion won (approximately $464 million) contract with DAPA for mass production and delivery of L-SAM launchers and ballistic missile interceptors to the South Korean military through to 2030. The system forms the upper tier of South Korea’s layered air and missile defense network.
The Chunmoo launcher’s operator base has also expanded within NATO in recent years, with orders placed by Poland, Estonia, and Norway.
The affected production lines generated 1.32 trillion won ($870 million) in revenue last year, representing roughly 5% of Hanwha Aerospace’s total annual revenue of 26.7 trillion won ($17 billion).
Explosion during propellant cleaning
The explosion occurred in a 544-square-meter building on the ground floor, specifically in a cleaning room. The company said the blast may have occurred during a cleaning operation to remove explosive residue from tools used in the manufacturing process of rocket propellant. The exact cause remains unknown.
The fire authorities stated that the explosion was so intense that it was impossible to identify some of the deceased. Final identification through DNA analysis by the National Forensic Service is expected as early as June 2, 2026.
BREAKING: An explosion at a Hanwha Aerospace facility in Daejeon, South Korea has killed 4 people and injured 2 others. pic.twitter.com/MUvzlWdRDz
— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) June 1, 2026
Multi-agency investigation
A joint inspection launched on June 2, 2026, involved officials from the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency, the fire service, the National Forensic Service, the labor ministry, and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. Investigators plan to determine the source of the ignition and examine whether flammable materials were present at the scene.
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration said it has formed a task force to manage the situation and will provide technical assistance to the investigation through the Agency for Defence Development and the Defence Agency for Technology and Quality.
As reported by The Asia Business Daily, fire safety inspection records show the Daejeon site underwent inspections once in 2025 and once in 2026, but the building where the explosion occurred was not included in the scope of those inspections due to its size.
The accident was the latest in a series of deadly incidents at the complex. Explosions at the facility killed five workers in 2018 and three more in 2019.