SEOUL: Samsung Electronics, the leader in the global computer chip and smartphone industries, is South Korea’s biggest company, with about 100,000 workers. An Associated Press investigation found South Korean authorities let Samsung withhold from sick workers and their families crucial information about the chemicals they are exposed to at its computer chip and display factories.
A worker-safety group has documented more than 200 cases of serious illnesses including leukemia, lupus, lymphoma and multiple sclerosis among former Samsung semiconductor and LCD workers. Seventy-six have died, most in their 20s and 30s.
Park Min-Sook, 43, a former Samsung chip worker and breast cancer survivor:
“In a situation where people’s lives are at stake, (Samsung) brought uninformed kids from the countryside and acted like money is everything, using them as if they were disposable cups.”
Hwang Sang-Gi, father of Hwang Yu-mi, a former Samsung factory worker who died of leukemia at the age of 22. Hwang launched a movement seeking independent inspections of Samsung factories:
“(Samsung) once offered me 1 billion won ($864,000), asking me to stay silent. The idea was to deny her illness was an occupational disease and to leave me without any power to fight back.
(Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy:thenewsmarket.com)
