President Lee Jae-myung on the 12th ordered a stern response to allegations that workers at a domestic automotive battery plant were given injections to flush heavy metals from their bodies while being told the shots were vitamins.
Presidential Office Senior Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said at a briefing that day that Lee had received a report from the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the measures taken so far and its plans going forward. According to a media report the previous day, workers at a large domestic automotive battery plant had been periodically given injections that force heavy metals in the blood out through urine, administered just before mandatory health checkups. The workers believed the shots were vitamin injections.
Kang said Lee sharply criticized the plant for passing its workplace environment assessment through a scheme that harmed workers' health, even though lead levels detected in the production process exceeded the standard by more than five times. "For a company that should protect workers' lives and health to have them injected while concealing the risk of side effects, and to cover up their exposure to hazardous substances, is a grave human rights violation that can never be tolerated," Lee said.
Lee also instructed the Ministry of Employment and Labor and investigative authorities to thoroughly examine the extent of hazardous substance exposure at the workplace, how the injections came to be administered and whether health checkup results were concealed, and to take stern legal action if violations are found. He further asked them to closely review the possibility of similar cases at other workplaces that neutralize industrial safety and health rules, and to do everything possible to protect workers' health and human rights.