President Lee calls alleged ‘lead-removal injections’ a grave human rights violation, orders stern response

[Financial News] On the 12th, President Lee Jae-myung ordered a stern response to reports that workers at an automotive battery manufacturing plant were repeatedly injected with shots intended to force the excretion of heavy metals such as lead, deceptively described as so-called ‘vitamin injections,’ calling the alleged conduct an absolutely unacceptable, grave human rights violation.
Kang Yoo-jung, the Blue House’s senior spokesperson, said President Lee had received a briefing that day on the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s response and future plans, and had strongly rebuked the plant’s conduct. The plant had passed the workplace environment assessment by resorting to a tactic that harmed workers’ health, despite lead levels more than five times the limit being detected during production.
President Lee said it was unacceptable for a company, which should protect workers’ lives and health, to have workers receive injections while concealing the risk of side effects and to cover up their exposure to hazardous substances.
He then called on the Ministry of Employment and Labor and investigative agencies to thoroughly investigate the extent of hazardous-substance exposure at the workplace, the circumstances surrounding the injections, and whether health-check results had been concealed. He instructed them to take stern action in accordance with the law if any violations were found.
He urged officials to closely examine the possibility that similar cases undermining the occupational safety and health system will arise at other workplaces. He also called on them to do everything possible to protect workers’ health and human rights.

[email protected] Seong Seok-woo Reporter