President Park Geun-hye on Thursday called for a thorough probe into the toxic humidifier disinfectant tragedy that is blamed for the death of more than 200 users.

“It is heartbreaking that a large number of people suffered damage and most importantly for the young infants to have lost their lives from the humidifier sterilizer accident that occurred in 2011. ... Relevant organizations should thoroughly investigate the case and take necessary measures such as receiving additional reports of damages so that the victims can get due compensation,” Park said during a Cabinet meeting.

“(The government) should also check whether there are any loopholes in the safety management of chemical products and whether there are any blind spots that need to be fixed as soon as possible to prevent any reoccurrence.”

Park’s remarks came amid the prosecutorial probe into several humidifier disinfectant manufacturers and distributers that sold the problematic product. Public calls have been growing over the government’s role in managing the manufacturers of chemical products as well as for tougher punishment against the accused companies.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution summoned Butterfly Effect’s former head surnamed Oh who led Cefu, a manufacturer of toxic humidifier disinfectant, and an official who provided the toxic ingredient.

This is the first time that the prosecutors summoned company officials other than Oxy Reckitt Benckiser. Since earlier this month, the investigators have called in Oxy’s key members such as the former head and the ingredient developer.

The probe was initially focused on Oxy as the majority of victims was found to have used Oxy’s product called Oxy Ssak Ssak containing the toxic ingredient PHMG.

Butterfly Effect is suspected of selling the product that contained PGH, which is known to be more harmful than the PHMG that Oxy had used. Oh sold the product online from 2009 to 2011 and 27 of the users were found to have been affected, with 14 dead, investigators said.

It is also suspected that Oh allegedly pretended that his company went out of business after the humidifier disinfectant case broke out. Later, however, it was found that his wife was running a similar business online, sources said.

The prosecution suspects that the companies had known about the toxicity of the ingredients but had not conducted a safety test due to sales performance pressure.

Following Oxy and Butterfly Effect, the prosecution is planning to summon officials of Lotte Mart and Homeplus, who sold the products.

Meanwhile, the group of humidifier disinfectant victims and their families urged the prosecution to summon former and current foreign officials of Oxy as well.

“Four foreign heads who have been in charge of Oxy while the company sold the murderous product from 2005 until now should take responsibility,” a statement by the group said.

“(The prosecution) should not only resummon former Oxy head Shin Hyun-woo but also call in other former and incumbent heads and local and foreign executive board members.”

Shin was questioned Wednesday over whether he had known about the toxicity of the product.

Victims and their families also urged the public to take part in the boycott against the involved companies. They released a list of 125 products that the accused companies are currently selling in the market. The items include five medicines and more than 100 home products such as laundry detergents and disinfectants.

“Multinational company Reckitt Benkiser discriminated against Korea by selling (the product) only in Korea and not in the U.K. (We) will continue the fight until the company gets kicked out from the market,” said Kang Chan-ho, the representative of the group.

By Lee Hyun-jeong  (rene@heraldcorp.com)