hankyoreh

For the last few years, dozens of its workers have been dying suddenly from ailments such as heart disease, and yet it has been reported that Hankook Tire is rejecting additional epidemiological testing from government organizations to examine the relationship between the workers’ sudden deaths and the workplace environment. It is reported that they have even sent a threatening notice to the organization seeking to conduct the testing, the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, or OSHRI, announcing that it would consider all measures of response possible to attempts by researchers to pressure them with content referring to “additional testing of sudden deaths” in the media.

Of course, now is not a time when a conclusion can be reached as to how much responsibility the company bears for the workers’ deaths. But if they had even the slightest understanding of the feelings of the family members of the workers who have died, they would not be so stubborn in blocking efforts to find the truth. Already some information has come to light on the relationship between the series of worker deaths and the workplace environment. In its primary epidemiological study this past February, the OSHRI deduced that there was a possible relationship between deaths due to ischemic heart disease and the workers’ environment. But they were unable to ascertain what specific workplace factor affected the workers’ health, and they intended to find that out through the additional study.

Additional epidemiological research is absolutely necessary, both to determine the exact cause of death for the deceased and for the health of the other workers who continue to work in the same environment. This is not the 1960s or 1970s, and it is astonishing that there are large industries openly disregarding workers’ lives and rights in such a way. It is incomprehensible how, in spite of this, the Ministry of Labor has merely been observing for several months now, saying simply that it is still too early to conclude that the company is not cooperating.

What stupefies the people even more is that this enterprise is the company of President Lee Myung-bak’s in-laws: Hankook Tire Chairman Cho Yang-rae is the president’s relative by marriage. Son-in-law Cho Hyun-bum serves as the company’s executive vice president. In addition, some time ago, President Lee’s only son, Lee Si-hyeong, was employed at Hankook Tire as an intern. It is impossible that Cheong Wa Dae could have turned a blind eye to the behavior of Hankook Tire, which has left its workers alone in a dangerous work environment for a long time, and now is even refusing epidemiological studies by government organizations. Yet the perspectives of people at large do not agree: they suspect that the “company where the president’s son-in-law is executive vice president and the president’s son worked” is weathering things as it is because there is support for them coming from certain corners.

Even if one does not necessarily mention a relationship with the president, Hankook Tire must accept the additional epidemiological study. The company’s profits cannot be placed ahead of the lives of its workers.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]