Lotte Mart apologizes to disinfectant victims

By Lee Kyung-min

Lotte Mart, a local discount store chain, has made an official apology to victims of humidifier disinfectants which it sold.

It said Monday that it would offer some 10 billion won ($8.6 million) in compensation to the family members of those who died, and to people who suffered respiratory illnesses.

Lotte Mart is the first company to offer a public apology and compensation plans among the manufacturers and sellers involved in the scandal since it emerged in August 2011. It remains to be seen whether other companies involved, including Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, Homeplus and SK Chemicals will follow suit in taking responsibility.

Lotte bought the disinfectant from a subcontractor and sold it under its private brand, Wiselect, between November 2006 and August 2011. It was the second largest seller of the disinfectant products following Oxy Reckitt Benckiser.

“We offer our sincerest apologies to the families of the victims,” Lotte Mart CEO Kim Jong-in said at a press conference at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul.

He apologized for failing to acknowledge the fault sooner.

“We are ashamed to admit that it took us five years to take responsibility. We are sorry that we did not move quickly enough to find the truth, as we believed there was no proven causal link between the disinfectant and the deaths, and other health problems,” he added.

Kim said that the company would set up a task force to deal with the issue exclusively, determining how much compensation to pay. “Immediately after the ongoing investigation by the prosecution is concluded, we’ll start talks about compensation,” he added.

In 2011, the Korea Centers for Disease, Control and Prevention concluded that the humidifier disinfectants were responsible for severe lung illnesses and 143 deaths, mainly pregnant women and children.

A group of civic activists and victims’ families, however, cast doubt on the sincerity of Lotte’s apology.

“Their apology comes a day before the prosecution’s questioning of executives of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser,” a member of one civic group said at a press conference in front of the hotel.

“Not a single seller or manufacturer listened to us when we visited their offices during the past several years. They all dismissed us saying we were making baseless claims, and now they give this surprise press conference without informing us in advance. We have grave suspicions about their apology,” he added.

Today, the prosecution will summon an official of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, the first time that an official of the companies involved in the scandal will be questioned since a special investigation team was formed in January.