Philip Morris Korea's Yangsan Plant/Courtesy of Philip Morris Korea

City officials keep an eye on Philip Morris Korea Plant

Months after Philip Morris Korea, which is headed by Chong Il-woo, was fined for discharging wastewater from its plant in Yangsan, the investigation on the case is still underway.

A Yangsan official recently said that the city is keeping an eye on the plant of the global tobacco giant’s Korean unit to prevent the recurrence of similar environmental mishaps.

“Philip Morris Korea was fined this August because it discharged wastewater from its factory in June. The company instantly paid the fine amounting to 40 million won($34,000),” said the official who works for the city’s environment division.

“As far as we know, the prosecution continues to probe Philip Morris Korea’s subcontractor, which is responsible for the incident. We also keep tabs on the plant to make sure that similar cases will not take place again.”

The official said that the city will slap stronger penalties in case such accidents happen again.

Philip Morris Korea established its plant in Yangsan, South Gyeongsan Province in 2012. The factory located around 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul rolls out around 40 billion cigarettes a year.

After the world’s largest cigarette maker introduced heat-not-burn tobacco product, dubbed IQOS, Philip Morris Korea channeled around 300 billion won to its Yangsan plant to provide the latest products to its Asia-Pacific markets.

Philip Morris Korea, a subsidiary of the world’s largest tobacco maker Philip Morris International (PMI), is the second-largest player in the Korea market, trailing only KT&G.

Comments from Philip Morris Korea were not available as calls to PMI Korea’s spokesman rang unanswered. He did not respond to a text message, either.
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