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Families of Samsung semiconductor workers who contracted illnesses hold a press conference in front of Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seoul’s Seocho district

The Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (COMWEL) ruled yesterday that a 33 year-old worker surnamed Kim who was diagnosed with leukemia after working for five years and seven months in a Samsung Display (formerly Samsung Electronics) LCD factory had contracted the illness in the course of his employment. Although there is precedent for such decisions pertaining to semi-conductor factories, this is the first time that leukemia contracted from working in an LCD factory has been recognized as an industrial accident.

After conducting an epidemiological study of the factory, COMWEL determined that the illness was an occupational disease despite the low level of exposure to harmful substances. “Considering the fact that Kim did not wear adequate protective gear and worked long hours, it is likely that he was exposed to carcinogens and harmful substances in greater concentrations than were found in the epidemiological study,” COMWEL wrote in the judgment. “Working at Samsung Electronics was Kim’s first job, and taking into account the latency period for leukemia and the fact that he received the diagnosis at the young age of 25, we acknowledge that there is a significant causal relationship between Kim’s leukemia and his occupation.”

Supporters for Health and Right of People in Semiconductor Industry (SHARPS) released a statement which read “We hope that President Moon Jae-in will keep his promise to establish a ‘civic committee of enquiry’ to investigate serious industrial accidents and that a thorough investigation will be conducted into the widespread occupational diseases in the electronics industry.”

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

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