South Korean Court Awards Compensation To Asbestos Victim's Family In Landmark Ruling

Seoul, South Korea (AHN) - A court is Seoul, South Korea issued a landmark ruling on Tuesday by ordering a company to pay more than $144,000 in damages to the family of a worker who died from cancer due to exposure to asbestos while working with the firm.

The decision of the Daegu district court, the first to recognize the danger of asbestos to a worker and the first to hold an employer accountable for death arising from exposure to the cancer-causing substance, is expected to open the floodgates for similar suits.

According to Chosun.com, the court found the asbestos cloth making company negligent in protecting its workers against asbestos. The firm failed to educate workers on the danger of asbestos, did not provide them protective gears and had no proper ventilation system at its plant.

The woman worker named Won died in October 2006 from malignant mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos dust. She was diagnosed with the disease in 2004, 26 years after she left the company in Busan.

Won worked with the company from 1976 to 1978. She originally sued the company for $228,000 in compensation.

The Korea Labor Welfare Corp. recognized Won's disease as work-related.

An environmental activist group in Daegu counted only 46 people in the country to have died from asbestos-related illnesses since 2000. But the number of local people suffering from similar diseases is expected to grow because it takes up to 40 years for such illnesses to become full blown.