While Hankook Tire is undergoing a high-level tax investigation by the National Tax Service, there is suspicions that politicians are trying to cover up the industrial accident.
Hankook Tire is currently under suspicion of having poor working conditions for workers compared to other tire companies.
Moreover, the National Tax Service has been conducting intensive tax investigations since last month. In relation to the deaths from industrial accidents, Hankook Tire said, “There is an error in the figures published. The work environment also proved to be unproblematic as a result of the authorities’ investigation.”
“Since the mid-1990s, 168 Hankook Tire factory workers have died in the past 20 years. The government carried out an investigation on workers who were exposed to organic solvent benzene and other industrial diseases that led to the death of the workers. Furthermore, the National assembly will conduct a state investigation on Hankook Tire,” said the Hankook Tire Industrial Accident Council.
According to the report ‘Hankook Tire Death Status’ submitted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to Kim Jong-hoon(Minjung Party) last year, 46 workers died from 2008 to January 2016. The causes of death were lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, cirrhosis, nasopharyngeal cancer, brain tumor, acute myocardial infarction, and multiple myeloma.
In response, Hankook Tire responded to “Sports Chosun” by saying, “There is a misunderstanding in the data on the total illnesses announced by the Industrial Accident Council. The number of disease patients increased in 2017 due to the addition of disease items since 2011. The cause of death of the workers is not directly related to the industrial accidents.”
Hankook Tire further added, “We are not currently using the organic solvent benzene which the Industrial Accident Council said was the cause of the disease, and the factory environment has also been investigated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and no problems have been found.”
Meanwhile, Hankook Tire is under special tax investigation. The 4th Bureau of the Seoul Regional Tax Office visited Hankook Tire headquarters in Seoul on July 10th to secure data including accounting records. The 4th Bureau of the Seoul Regional Tax Office is the organization that is exclusively responsible for tax evasion and slush funds for large companies.
Some analysts say that the tax authority’s investigation may have targeted Hankook Tire Group’s work, internal trade, and tax evasion. Cho hyun-bum, CEO of Hankook Tire, was married to the daughter of former President Lee Myung-bak in 2001 and has been plagued by the ‘preferentialdoxy’.
