After 10-year battle, Samsung apologises to workers who developed cancer, rare diseases from working at semiconductor factories
- Campaign groups say 320 people suffered work-related illnesses, including 16 types of cancer, as a result of working at the factory
- Electronics firm to pay compensation of US$133,000 per case
Samsung Electronics apologised on Friday to workers who developed cancer after working at its semiconductor factories, finally ending a decade-long dispute at the world’s top chip maker.
“We sincerely apologise to the workers who suffered from illness and their families,” said the firm’s co-president Kim Ki-nam.
“We have failed to properly manage health risks at our semiconductor and LCD factories.”
Samsung Electronics is the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer and chip maker and the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung Group, by far the biggest of the family controlled conglomerates that dominate the South’s economy.
It has played a key part in the South’s rise to become the world’s 11th-largest economy, but has also faced accusations of murky political connections.
Its de facto leader Lee Jae-yong was found guilty of bribing former president Park Geun-hye as part of the corruption scandal that brought her down and spent almost a year in prison before most of his convictions were overturned on appeal and he was released.