Kwon Oh-hyun, the CEO and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, handed a written apology to family members of former workers who contracted deadly diseases including leukemia and various cancers, in Seoul on Thursday.

Participating in a meeting with the families of the workers stricken with illnesses at the head office in Gangnam, Seoul on the day, CEO Kwon said “we appreciate your understanding and efforts to solve the issues (related to the dispute involving the former Samsung factory workers).”

In the letter given to the group for the families, he wrote he admitted that the company fell short of making swift actions to solve the leukemia issues.

The official apology by the chief of the electronics firm came on the heels of a partial settlement reached between the firm, a group of victims’ families and advocacy group Banolim on Tuesday this week.

Samsung will set up an independent watchdog that monitor the working conditions of the firm’s semiconductor and display factories, according to the agreement.

Among the 221 workers who developed the fatal diseases, 75 had died as of last year, according to Banolim.

The electronics firm pledged last year to create a fund worth 100 billion won ($82.6 million) for compensation and research of work-related diseases.

As of this week, more than 100 victims among 150 applicants have received compensation from the firm.
 
The leukemia dispute became public after Hwang Yu-mi, a former employee at Samsung‘s chipmaking facility south of Seoul, died of leukemia in 2007.

Her father and other family members of victims of leukemia, cancer and other diseases who worked at Samsung, along with human rights lawyers and labor activists, have held protests against the tech giant, demanding compensation and an apology.

All three issues related to the leukemia dispute -- a set of preventive measures, compensation and an apology -- have now been solved, the company said in a statement released after the Thursday meeting.

(wone0102@heraldcorp.com)