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Ex-foreign chief of Oxy is free of all charges

Posted January. 07, 2017 07:04,   

Updated January. 07, 2017 07:11

한국어

The Seoul Central District Court ruled Friday Shin Hyun-woo, former head of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, was guilty and sentenced him seven years in prison. Along with Shin, other board members were all found guilty of charges related to the company’s disinfectants for humidifiers. On the contrary, the court acquitted all charges on John Lee, former foreign chief of Oxy Korea and current chief of Google Korea, ranging from professional negligence to fraud due to a lack of evidence. “Evidence is not enough to convict Lee of the charges against him that Lee received reports about false information of the products in terms of safety or labelling,” the court said. “The court was not able to move forward with investigation on foreign board members who allegedly shared information with Lee." To sum up, the prosecution’s evidence was not enough to slam charges on Lee.

It is absurd that Lee is free of all charges against him because he is a foreign national. Oxy’s humidifier sterilizers took lives of 73 people and left 181 victims with physical damages after the product had been advertised with a labelling “safe for children” without proper testing of toxic properties. Since the victims went to the public in 2011, the death toll has increased to 113 according to the Ministry of Environment. Lee was not convicted of any charges, as the court could not continue investigation on foreign board members staying overseas.

The prosecution will not be free from all blame. The victims brought the case to the court several years ago, but the prosecution only hurried to prepare a special investigation team last year after sitting idle for some time. The investigation was initiated after the government finished its report on this case. “It is not over. Your consciousness is clearly aware of what you did,” a mother who lost her child shouted out to Lee and escorted out of the court room. The prosecution should remember the victims’ outcry.

The Fair Trade Commission has announced it would adopt and implement punitive damages on companies causing significant damage to human life, requiring compensation up to three times above the size of compensatory damage. The U.S. government limits punitive damages to less than 10 times the size of damage. The Korean government should learn from the U.S. that strongly punishes companies threatening life and safety of consumers, getting a company close to a shutdown.