Victims of humidifier disinfectant held a press conference in front of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser's headquarters, where they manufactured and sold humidifier disinfectants, on May 24, demanding companies and the government apologize and compensate the victims.
The memorial altar for the victims, which was set up in front of Oxy's headquarters earlier this month, was voluntarily removed after about three weeks. The humidifier disinfectant disaster nationwide network demanded a sincere apology and compensation from related companies, including Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, SK Innovation, SK Chemicals, Aekyung and Daiso.
"The past month has been a long period of anger and pain, and we haven't had much tangible results, but we've done our best to spread the truth and status of the humidifier disinfectant disaster to our society," the network said.
"Even though we haven't achieved what we want, it's not the end, but it's the beginning of a new protest action," it added.
They also demanded Cheong Wa Dae arrange a meeting between the President and the victims and called on the Ministry of Environment to scrap the "damage judgment criteria" that divides the compensation standard.
Earlier, victims of humidifier disinfectant and bereaved families set up a civic memorial altar in front of Oxy's headquarters on May 2, a week after the late Cho Deok-jin, who was classified as a fourth-phase victim of lung disease, died. The number of deaths from humidifier disinfectants, including Cho, increased to a total of 1,403.
According to the network, 4,961 out of 5,435 people who received the results of the investigation into damages from the humidifier disinfectant as of March 3 were not recognized for lung disease and were not officially supported by the government.
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