[The original Korean article was translated to English by APIL. Full English translation available to download.]

"Forced-Labor-Produced Sea Salt Transferred Through Big Firms: This Is How Salt Arrives At Your Dinner Table," 19 November 2023

[...] In 2014, there were media reports that the shareholders of CJ CheilJedang's subsidiary (Sinuido Sea Salt) included four perpetrators of forced labor. CJ CheilJedang stated to APIL that "law enforcement has been completed for three of the four" and that "these three are currently shareholders of Sinuido Sea Salt." The company also said it had "suspended purchase contracts with the four perpetrators," but confirmed facts differed from the truth.

Independent/non-affiliated lawmaker Mi-hyang Yoon received the details of sea salt supplied to CJ CheilJedang from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (※ marks data obtained from Yoon's office). [...] Among the salt farms there was the salt farm owned by employer B, which supplied 180,000 kilograms.

Employer B was one of the perpetrators in the 2014 human rights violation incident in the salt farms. [...] Employer B was a producer representative when CJ CheilJedang established 'Sinuido Sea Salt' in 2010 as a cooperative with Sinuido salt farm owners. In 2014, he was a member of the Shinan County Legislature and is still a county legislator (for 3 terms total). From 2014, when he was criminally punished, to last September, he delivered a total of 885,800 kilograms (※) of salt to CJ CheilJedang.

"According to law, just because a shareholder has been criminally punished, other shareholders cannot collectively take away that shareholder's shares," a CJ CheilJedang company official told Hankyoreh. "It is true that the shareholder is still supplying salt, but the issue has already been legally resolved," he added. However a labor inspection conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in July last year (※) also found B’s violations of the Labor Standards Act and the Minimum Wage Act.

[...]