Oxy plans to pay up to 350 mil. won in compensation to victims

Oxy Reckitt Benckiser has finalized and announced compensation plans that call for payment of 350 million won (313,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation each to Korean victims of its lethal humidifier sanitizers, plus separate payment for treatment to Grade 1 and 2 victims. As many families of the victims are still demanding the company’s British headquarters to apologize, controversy will likely linger.

According to Oxy on Sunday, it has finalized its compensation plans by reflecting demands by victims on top of its original plans released in late June. The company said it will receive applications for compensation from Monday.

The new compensation plans include payment of up to 350 million won per person in compensation to victims who are classified as Grades 1 and 2 in the first and second round inspections by the government, plus all expenses for treatment of related diseases and projected income (earnings the victims are projected to have earned assuming that they work through age 60). For babies and infants whose projected income is difficult to calculate, the company decided to pay up to 1 billion won (900,000 dollars) in total compensation including treatment expenses.

“Some of our key demands including apology by the British headquarters have not been reflected,“ said Choi Seung-un, head of the coalition of humidifier disinfectant victims’ families. “We think that the compensation plans are only a showy measure the company is seeking in order to claim that it has agreed on compensation plans with victims at parliamentary inspection and hearing.”

이새샘기자 iamsam@donga.com