By Baek Byung-yeul
A Samsung Electronics manager recently posted an online rebuttal of
a movie about what is widely seen as the story behind the death of a semiconductor factory worker from leukemia, describing it as an “unfair depiction” of the situation.
The movie doesn’t refer to Samsung or Hwang Yu-mi, the worker who was diagnosed with the cancer two years after beginning work at the semiconductor firm, but the circumstances by which the story is told are indicative enough of what it is about.
Kim Sun-beom, spokesman of Samsung’s device solutions department, argued that the movie oversimplifies the story and raised concerns that the company’s image was being demonized.
"The misapprehension caused by the movie is regrettable,” Kim wrote on the company’s official blog, Samsung Tomorrow (www. samsungtomorrow.com). "My heart is heavy, thinking of how the audiences will be morally indignant against us (Samsung) after watching it as it is misleading."
Samsung has not officially commented on the movie.
Hwang’s family believes she contracted leukemia from working in a semiconductor factory, an argument the film seems to support.
However, Kim claimed that the link was far from clear-cut, although admitting there were more qualified people to talk about the matter.
"I cannot make a counterargument in detail as I didn’t major in chemistry. But I have no worries about the safeness of our company because I know how much effort it puts into keeping our employees and our workplace safe, and to maintaining environmental standards," he wrote. "This is unfair to distort the truth by camouflaging it in the form of art."
The movie is generating increasing debate in social media.
After her death, Samsung suggested a financial settlement, but her father, Hwang Sang-ki, filed a lawsuit against the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (KCOMWEL) instead. The Seoul Administrative Court ruled that Hwang was eligible for compensation in 2011.
The film was directed by Kim Tae-yun and stars Park Chul-min and Park Hee-jung.