25 Million Dollars (30 Billion Won) Estimated as Compensation for 1200 Victims of Silicon Breast

The Korean victims who have received breast enlargement surgery using the silicon pack from Dow Corning Company, an American Multinational business, and had side effects such as skin decay will receive compensations starting from this coming February.

“The final decision has been made by the Federal Court on December 11 of last year for Dow Corning to provide compensations to the victims and this compensation to 380,000 victims all over the world will begin February 18”, Kim Yeon-ho, a lawyer who have been processing the lawsuit with the Dow Corning Company in behalf of the Korean victims of the breast enlargement surgery, clarified on 6th.

Lawyer Kim stated that as for the victims in Korea, new applicants who register incidents by April 18 would be compensated along with the 1,200 victims of breast enlargement surgery who have delegated this lawsuit.

Therefore, the victims in Korea will receive compensations, varying from the lowest $600 to the highest $94,500 (approximately 111 million won) and it has been estimated that 25 million dollars (approximately 30 billion won) will be given to around 1,200 victims in Korea, the participants of the lawsuit. The victims included in this lawsuit are those who have received the breast enlargement surgery and those who have used the silicon products in facial and other various body parts.

The decided compensations by the U.S. Court are as follow: for the victims of breast enlargement surgery, removal compensation is $3,000 (approximately 3.6 million won), for those who had the silicon ruptured within the body will receive $7,000 (approximately 8.4 million won), for the nose victim, $1,750 (approximately 2.1 million won) and for the knees victim, $2,625 (approximately 3.15 million won) and etc.

Lawyer Kim clarified that new applicants who register by April 14 will be eligible to receive compensation but the new applicants must be able to submit material proof of the usage of the silicon products from the American Dow Corning Company.

Dow Corning Company had been the big matter through out the world after the discoveries of skin decaying side effects from those who have received breast enlargement surgery using the company`s silicon product, thus the international lawsuit had been processing since 1994.

“We plan to input 32 million dollars for next 15 years to provide compensations to the victims of breast enlarging surgery caused by our silicon product”, the Dow Corning Company has stated in 1994.

Jin-Kyun Kil leon@donga.com