Commemorative events being held for deceased Samsung workers

Posted on : 2014-03-04 17:23 KST Modified on : 2014-03-04 17:23 KST
Three days have been selected as a commemorative period for the 92 semiconductor workers who have died
 Gyeonggi Province
Gyeonggi Province

By Hong Yong-deok, south Gyeonggi correspondent

The dates of Mar. 3 to 6 have been set as a commemorative period for workers who lost their lives in industrial accidents in the semiconductor industry.

A number of commemorative events are scheduled for the period, which ends on the seventh anniversary of the death of Hwang Yu-mi, the first person to blow the whistle on occupational diseases at Samsung semiconductors factories.

Hwang, the subject of the recent film “Another Family,” died of leukemia on Mar. 6, 2007, at the age of 23. She had previously worked on the third line at the Giheung plant.

The period was announced at a press conference on the morning of Mar. 3 in front of Samsung Semiconductors‘ Giheung plant in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, by the Committee to Commemorate Hwang Yu-Mi and the Workers Who Perished from Industrial Accidents in the Semiconductor Industry. The theme announced for the three-day event was “Greeting Spring with Yu-mi, Here and Now!”

“A total of 92 worker deaths from industrial accidents in the semiconductor industry have been reported as of Mar. 1 this year,” the committee said. “Their families are suffering from day to day with the grief of losing family members, struggles with their livelihood, and their battle with disease.”

The committee urged companies and the government to “share responsibility for occupational diseases among workers in the semiconductor industry at Samsung and elsewhere.”

After the press conference, the committee collected signatures near the Samsung Electronics factory in Suwon and embarked on a march through the streets to Suwon Station, where a “Greeting the Early Spring” concert was held that evening.

On Mar. 4, the committee plans to hold rallies at Anyang Station and the south Seoul office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor before leading another march from the office to Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo Station. Events scheduled for Mar. 5 and 6 include a flash mob at Seoul City Hall and a commemorative festival in front of the Samsung Electronics offices in Seoul‘s Seocho district.

 

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