Greenpeace accuses HD Hyundai of aiding destruction in Amazon

Doto Takak Ire, the indigenous leader of the Kayapo People in the Amazon, speaks during a press conference at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

HD Hyundai Construction Equipment, a subsidiary of HD Hyundai, has been embroiled in a conflict with Greenpeace, due to its excavators accounting for the largest proportion of construction equipment used for illegal gold mining in indigenous lands in the Amazon.

Its dispute with the environmental activists came a few weeks after the company was criticized by Amnesty International for overlooking the use of its machines to destroy the houses of Palestinians in Israeli-occupied areas.

During Wednesday's press conference in Seoul, Greenpeace pointed out that the number of HD Hyundai excavators identified during overflights above indigenous territories in the Amazon reached 75, which is 43 percent of the 176 machines recorded in illegal gold mining pits in the territories.

“Hyundai must put the planet above its profits and prevent its excavators from being used on indigenous territories and protected areas,” said Danicley de Aguiar, senior Amazon forest campaigner for Greenpeace Brazil.

Jang Da-ul, advocacy specialist for Greenpeace East Asia Seoul office, urged HD Hyundai President Chung Ki-sun to show his new leadership to cooperate with the Brazilian government and society to eradicate illegal mining in the Amazon rainforest as soon as possible.

“HD Hyundai's cooperation will set the first good example for other companies selling their heavy machinery for illegal mining,” Jang said.

Doto Takak Ire, the indigenous leader of the Kayapo People in the Amazon, emphasized that the explosion of mining in the indigenous territories is poisoning and killing the residents.

Greenpeace said it discovered that HD Hyundai's authorized dealers have recently established facilities in the vicinity of the indigenous lands most impacted by illegal mining.

The environmental group cited a local TV interview, in which a representative from an HD Hyundai authorized dealership said that he “had convinced 'the Koreans' to invest” in a region renowned for its informal or illicit mining.

In order to keep HD Hyundai's machines out of indigenous lands, Greenpeace asked the company to utilize its remote management technologies that use GPS to collect data about machines and can establish virtual borders for the equipment to work within.

An HD Hyundai Construction Equipment official said that the company has been verifying whether Greenpeace's claim is true.

When Amnesty International held a press conference last month in front of HD Hyundai's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in protest against the use of its machines to destroy the houses of Palestinians, the company responded by saying that it could not prevent the demolition, given that the machines were sold on the second-hand market.