A South Korean government agency said Friday that working at a Samsung
Electronics factory caused the breast cancer of a worker who died
earlier this year, only the second time it has recognized a link between
cancer and Samsung's chip plants.
The Korea Workers' Compensation and
Welfare Service, which is part of the labor ministry, ruled earlier
this month that there was a "considerable causal relationship" between
the woman's cancer and her five years of work at a semiconductor plant
near Seoul. The ruling didn't become public until Friday when the agency
announced compensation for the woman's family.
Samsung spokesman
James Chung said it will not appeal the government's decision. The
company is the world's largest maker of computer memory chips.
There
have been very few cases in South Korea in which a link between working
conditions and cancer has been convincingly demonstrated. Nearly 30
South Koreans have filed claims with the agency that working at Samsung
caused rare forms of disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and brain
tumors. Another dozen people whose claims were rejected by the agency
have filed court appeals.
The Korea Workers' Compensation and
Welfare Service collects insurance fees from companies and makes rulings
on whether diseases are caused by workplace hazards. Workers file
industrial disease-related claims with the agency, not with their
employer. Either party can appeal to the courts.
The woman, whose
last name is Kim, died in March, age 36, three years after being
diagnosed with breast cancer. Kim worked for Samsung from 1995 to 2000.
Her first name was not released at her family's request.
The
agency didn't say how much compensation was paid, but spokesman Kang
Byung-soo said it usually amounts to nearly four years of a worker's
salary.
"There was an exposure to organic solvents and radiation.
The earlier the exposure is, the more likely the cancer is caused," the
workers compensation agency said in a statement about Kim's case.
It
said it also reviewed records from overseas which showed that working
night shifts is linked to a higher chance of breast cancer.
Kim,
who worked eight to 12 hours a day, was often assigned night time shifts
that started at 10 p.m. and ended at 6 in the morning, according to Lee
Jong-ran, an official at SHAPRs, or Supporters for the Health And
Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry.
Kim worked at a
plant without a radiation detector and was exposed to benzene and other
carcinogens, according to the activist group.
Lee said the latest
decision will have a positive impact on Samsung employees who are hoping
to prove a link between their diseases and working conditions at
Samsung Electronics.
"Because the government recognized the link, people who have pending lawsuits will feel encouraged," she said.
There
have been three recent cases in which authorities recognized that
working conditions at Samsung had contributed to diseases.
In
April, the agency compensated a former Samsung worker who suffered from
aplastic anemia. Last year, a Seoul court ruled that a Samsung
semiconductor plant caused the cancer of two former employees. The
agency, which had earlier rejected claims from the two workers, is
appealing the court's decision.