Posco plant resumes operations after fire knocks out power

Black smoke forms around Posco's Pohang Steelworks in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, on Saturday morning after cables at the facility caught fire. [YONHAP]

Posco's Pohang Steelworks in Pohang, North Gyeongsang resumed full operations Monday after a fire partially shut down its facilities Saturday morning.

Cables near the plant's facilities where molten metals were being made sparked and caught fire on Saturday morning. The fire was extinguished in just over two hours.

There were no casualties, according to fire authorities, but the blaze did cause a power outage that temporarily shut down three of the facility's furnaces. The blackout which could potentially cause byproduct gas to build up inside the steel mills also lead Posco to let loose a plume of black smoke on Saturday.

Two of the three suspended furnaces — No. 2 and No. 3 — reactivated Sunday morning after undergoing preheating. The No. 4 furnace, after some safety checks, resumed operation on Monday morning.

"The latest facilities suspension due to fire was short, which means there is nearly no expected harm to production and supply," Posco said.

The incident marks the first furnace suspension since the flood of Typhoon Hinnamnor in September 2022. Operations, following that event, were only fully restored earlier this year, and the company suffered an estimated 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in revenue.

Industry Minister Bang Moon-kyu held an emergency meeting on Saturday regarding the steel mill fire.

"[Pohang Steelworks] is the heart of Korea's steel production," he said.

"Even a temporary suspension could have ripple effects in shipbuilding and automobiles. There should be a thorough identification of the reason for the fire and a plan to prevent the recurrence of such accidents."

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]