Race Against Time for Ill Former Samsung Workers in South Korea · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Mega-conglomerate Samsung faces multiple lawsuits in several countries for their notorious labor violations. But in the tech giant's home country of South Korea, where close family and business ties works in its favor, their former employees suffering from work-related illnesses have an uphill battle ahead against Samsung.
But luckily, there were some positive developments made this month.
Movie poster/still photo of “Another Family”, a crowd-sourced movie revealing truth of Samsung's leukemia victim, Fair Use Image
On October 18, a Seoul court ruled in favor of a Samsung labor worker who died from acute leukemia, confirming the disease was caused by the company's harsh and unsafe working conditions.
In early October, a crowd-sourced film titled “Another Family” (trailer here [ko]), which depicts workers who came down with leukemia and other rare diseases when they worked at Samsung factories, made international headlines.
At a National Assembly audit hearing on October 22, more revelations were made about Samsung's unapologetic attitudes towards victims, and several lawmakers cornered [ko] Samsung for forcing labor workers who had no idea what chemicals they had been handling “to provide evidence themselves of how they developed leukemia”. Samsung has apparently adopted a defensive stance in litigation – instead of actively disproving the theory that leukemia was caused by their working environment, they have focused on nullifying the victims’ claim for lack of evidence.
This has enraged net users as well:
무려 80명이 불치병으로 죽고 아파하는데 삼성은 끄덕없다. 백혈병 걸린 직원이 그걸 입증해야하나. 백혈병과 무관하다고 삼성이 입증해야지. 피해자가 혼자도 아니고 여럿인데. 분기에 수조원을 이익으로 내는 또 하나의 가족이 저런 기업인걸.
— 역사를 사랑하는 영어쌤. (@ela3599) October 18, 2013
More than 80 people have suffered and died from terminal diseases, but Samsung is not budging an inch. Seriously, do the victims have to find evidence themselves why they got leukemia? It should be Samsung who should provide evidence that the leukemia is not work-related. There is not one, but many victims. This is the company that makes trillions of profits in their business quarter and calls itself ‘Another Family’ [in its advertising slogan]
‘삼성반도체 백혈병’ 또 산재 인정..다른 재판에 영향? 29살의 젊은 나이에 백혈병으로 숨진 김경미 씨 – 삼성이 국민기업으로 거듭 나려면 판결 이전에 스스로 산재를 인정하고 작업 환경을 개선시켜야 http://t.co/pvYjv1aDzz — 불꽃, 정중규 (@bulkoturi) October 19, 2013
The Court ruled that the leukemia at a Samsung semiconductor factory was an ‘industrial accident’ [confirming Samsung is to be blamed for the accident]. Will it affect other lawsuits as well? If Samsung really want to become a true “national” company representing Korea, they should acknowledge their industrial accidents and should work on improving their work environments.
이번주에 삼성이 버린 또하나의 가족을 다 읽었는데 눈물이 흐르지 안을수가없다… 심지어 내 친구가 관심을 보였는지 빌려주라해서 빌려줬는데 이게 사실이내고 묻는다 아무리 큰 대기업이라도 진실을 밝혀야한다. 산재가 인정됬다는 소식을 보자 다행이라는..
— By.Presso (@bypresso) October 18, 2013
This week I read the book, “Another Family Discarded by Samsung”, and I could not stop crying. Since my friend showed interest to it, I lent it to them and they asked me whether this is all true… Samsung is a mega-conglomerate, but we still need to find out the truth. Right after I heard about the court ruling confirming it as an industrial accident, I felt so relieved.
Time is running short for victims – currently, nine lawsuits are pending [ko], and out of 15 victims who filed lawsuits, six have already died. The total number of former Samsung employees who reported leukemia and serious diseases reaches over 200 [ko] (80 have passed away), and even after their illnesses were proven to be work-related, they have to endure [ko] long bureaucratic process and minor legal issues ahead.