April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] A Seoul court on March 23 rejected a petition to disclose a government report on the safety of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor plant in Korea, citing possible tech leaks to rivals.

On Feb. 15, a group of civic groups fighting for leukemia victims who worked at Samsung’s chip plants filed a suit to ask the Labor Ministry to disclose the details of the report.

The court ordered the disclosure of general review only, denying the plea. 

The court said the report includes highly confidential information related to the world's largest memory chip maker’s trade secrets, including the flow map of the production lines and the types of the equipment and their detailed specifications.

“Some of the information has been gained through Samsung’s research and development work for years,” the ruling said. “If any of this information is leaked to rivals it would seriously hurt the company’s competitiveness and profits.”

The report was published in 2013 following hydrofluoric acid leaks at its plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, and most details of the toxic chemicals used in the plant had already been disclosed through government websites.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)