From a purely agricultural province, Bac Ninh has risen strongly when receiving many billion-dollar projects, become a model in attracting foreign investment. The biggest turning point was the appearance of Samsung in 2008. After 14 years, of the total nearly 19 billion USD of investment capital of Samsung in Vietnam, the investment capital in Bac Ninh accounted for nearly half, reached more than 9.3 billion USD, positively contributed to the economic growth of the province.
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Historicdecision of Samsung
In 2008, Samsung Electronics
Vietnam (SEV) factory was officially established in Bac Ninh. This is ahistoric decision that laid the foundations for the great investment process of
Samsung in Vietnam.“Back to 14 years ago, when Samsung chose Bac Ninh to build its first factory,then we evaluated the favorable factors in terms of politics, economy, people,geographical position and Bac Ninh met all those requirements. The success of
Samsung Vietnamtoday is always due to the attention and full support from the leadership of
Bac Ninh province. We highly appreciate the willingness of the leadership ofthe province, branches and localities to help the investors solve difficultiesin the process of investment, production and business, and especially thecompanion to together overcome the crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic”. Mr.Choi Joo Ho, General Director of Samsung Vietnam, said about Samsung’shistoric decision to choose Bac Ninh to invest in the first phone factory in2008.
Theproduction value of Samsung’s factories accounts for a high density in the industrialstructure of Bac Ninh.
In response to thosesupports, during the past 14 years, Samsung has also contributed to bringingabout the spectacular change in Bac Ninh. If in 2005, Bac Ninh’s GRDP scale was1,504 billion VND, in 2010, this figure increased to 16,685 billion VND, by2021, the GRDP scale increased to more than 227,000 billion VND, ranked 8th inscale out of 63 provinces. While the area of Bac Ninh is the smallest, thepopulation is only about 1.4 million people. The average income of Bac Ninhpeople exceeded 6,700 USD, ranked 4th in the whole country. If considering interms of industrial scale, GRDP scale, and per capita income, Bac Ninh isconsidered one of the fastest growing provinces of Vietnam’s economy. Despite the
COVID-19 epidemic, the industrial production value reached nearly 1.5 millionbillion VND in 2021, rising to the first place in the whole country, surpassing
Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai. In which, the density of theelectronics industry increased to 79.3%.
“Co-prosperity”and spreading the social Responsibility activities
The appearance of Samsung inthe past 14 years also brought many satellite enterprises to invest, therebycreating a spreading effect and turning Bac Ninh into a bright spot to attract
FDI and a stronghold for Vietnam’selectronics industry. Not stopping there, in order to increase the internaldevelopment resources of Bac Ninh province, Samsung actively implements the programsto develop the local enterprises operating in the province’s supportingindustry. “From a long-term viewpoint, we hope that Bac Ninh province willdevelop an ecosystem of domestic suppliers to better meet the needs of theforeign investors for parts and accessories.”, Mr. Choi Joo Ho, General
Director of Samsung Vietnam said.
Most recently, Samsungparticipated in the signing of a 3-party cooperation agreement between the
Ministry of Industry and Trade, Bac Ninh province and Samsung to support the improvementconsultancy for the local enterprises, help to improve competitiveness so thatthe potential enterprises have the opportunity to participate in the supplychain not only for Samsung but also for many other multinational companies.
Samsung’srepresentative gives gifts to the poor pupils overcoming difficulties in Yen
Phong district.
After 14 years of setting upthe factory in Yen Phong Industrial Park,Samsung Vietnamhas not only created a strong driving force for the economic growth andinspired the foreign investors to come to Bac Ninh, but also demonstrated itsresponsibility to the locality through many practical activities towards thecommunity.
Samsung Hope Schoollocated in Lac Ve commune (Tien Du) is the first school in Samsung Hope
School project chain - one of many keysocial responsibility projects with the mission of spreading knowledge, sharingvision and building the future for the young generation of Vietnam. Theproject has brought about the opportunity to live and study in a healthy,dynamic environment, discover their own dreams, and develop comprehensively formore than 200 children in Bac Ninh. Samsung Hope Schoolis built in the localities where Samsung’s employees were born and grow up as gratefulnessto the employees, their families and native soil.
Recently, as part of a seriesof activities to celebrate its 14 years of establishment, Samsung Electronics
Vietnam Co., Ltd (SEV) has also awarded “Smart Library” worth 250 million VNDto Long Chau Primary School(Yen Phong). This is a project for building and improving the libraries at theprimary, secondary schools to become smart libraries with high interaction inorder to create reading and learning on modern technology devices for the pupils,help them form a habit of reading books every day, thereby develop the readingculture in the young generation. Up to now, SEV has awarded 3 Smart Librariesin Bac Ninh.
Notably, in the context ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, Samsung also continuously carried out many activities tojoin hands with Bac Ninh to repel the epidemic: supported 10 billion VND to the
Vaccine fund of Bac Ninh province; donated 6,000 medical protective suits worth1.5 billion VND to the Fatherland Front Committee of Bac Ninh province; Thetrade union and employees at Samsung factories in Bac Ninh also activelyparticipated in supporting the COVID-19 prevention and control by swiping cardsto collect money at CSR kiosks in the company.... along with many gratitudeactivities to the frontline forces fighting the epidemic in Bac Ninh province.Most recently, Samsung Vietnamhas just handed over 500,000 syringes to Bac Ninh Department of Health to joinhands in the Covid-19 vaccination work. In addition, Samsung also cooperatedwith the units and localities to implement many other projects in Bac Ninh suchas: School milk program, awarded the Study encouragement scholarships to the poorpupil overcoming difficulties, awarded equipment to the schools in Bac Ninh province;Awarded wheelchairs to the disabled....and a lot of other activities.
In Vietnam, a key production base, a former safety officer alleges the factory also dumped chemicals into waterways.
Employees pass a billboard for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 outside a Samsung factory in northern Vietnam.Kham/Reuters/Redux
SHARPS’ analysis also highlighted a neurotoxin, toluene. Kang claims that Samsung restricted its usage for cleaning since 2006, but, in his report, documented that toluene was being freely used to clean as recently as 2016. Toluene’s side effects can be severe, including fainting, headaches, impaired coordination, and birth defects. Rest of World spoke to four former Samsung employees at the factory, two of whom corroborated some of Kang’s allegations, while two claimed a lack of knowledge. But every worker also told Rest of World that, despite the issues raised by Kang, Samsung operates the best-run factories of the global tech giants in northern Vietnam.
Joe Di
Gangi, IPEN’s special adviser, told Rest of World that Kang’s whistleblowing represents the first detailed description of how Samsung Vietnam allegedly uses certain dangerous chemical products. Companies such as Samsung often block the release of that information, claiming confidentiality.
And while toxic chemicals are often used in electronics plants, their ill effects are supposed to be regulated, in Vietnam and elsewhere, by mandated wearing of masks with carbon filters, working exhaust facilities, and proper disposal techniques.
“It’s like opening the curtain on the window,” Di
Gangi said. “Now we can see.”
Samsung Group, a more than 320-billion-dollar conglomerate, is an industrial giant. The company is estimated to account for over 15% of South Korea’s GDP, and is involved with everything from smartphones to shipyards. Overseas, the company projects its brand power through electronics: foldable phones, advanced OLED displays, and washing machines famous for playing a jaunty tune.
Kang’s whistleblowing is not the first time Samsung’s safety and environment practices have come under scrutiny. This past June, a state probe in Austin, Texas found that equipment failure at Samsung’s U.S. semiconductor plant caused the dumping of roughly 763,000 gallons of sulfuric acid waste into local waterways. In South Korea, media have reported tens of Samsung workers dying of blood-related illnesses, for which the company finally compensated their families in 2014. In Vietnam, a local newspaper’s attempt to report on the labor abuse claims of overwork and chemical exposure were quickly dismissed by the company.
15% The percentage of South Korea’s GDP that Samsung Group is estimated to account for.
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Quang spent four years at Bac Ninh, between 2010 and 2014, in Samsung’s phone-case painting facility. He told Rest of World he was not surprised by Kang’s allegations. More than eight years after leaving the factory, he’s still haunted by the strong odor from the paint shop. Quang, like all ex-workers at Samsung who spoke to Rest of World, asked to be identified by a pseudonym, fearing reprisal from his former employer.
“It had a pungent, sour smell. though I was wearing a mask at the time,” Quang said. After two years at Samsung, Quang and his colleagues discovered that they had thinning of the blood during a routine health checkup organized by the company, he claimed.
“Before hiring us, Samsung had our health examined. Our health results at that time were good,” he said.
Quang said he was often tasked with cleaning the pipe filled with paint dust in the air filter tower. Sometimes, the paint dust was so thick that he couldn’t remove it all. When that would happen, he said his manager would ask him to remove the air filter to allow the air to escape.
The former line worker believes that harmful chemicals were flushed into the environment. “Other workers hardly know this,” Quang added. “At that time, I was not aware of its harmful effects. For the sake of my family’s livelihood, I could only follow management’s orders.”
Quang was also in charge of overseeing the cleaning of tanks that held chemicals. He alleges the company subcontracted to do the disposal would dump the materials into a nearby river. It didn’t occur to him that the effluence might do damage, he said.
Minh Anh, a former safety auditor at the Bac Ninh plant for eight years, told Rest of World he doesn’t recall ever smelling chemicals at the phone screen facility. This was an area in the production facility where Samsung’s strictest safety and hygiene requirements apply. But those standards would be pushed aside when the factory entered peak production, he believed.
“At those times, our auditor team was not allowed by the factory manager to inspect and supervise the lines,” said Minh Anh, who quit his job recently. “They thought our duties would reduce productivity, and they received orders from their superiors in Vietnam to stop us.”
Not every employee of the Samsung Bac Ninh plant that Rest of World spoke to had a negative experience. Two of the four interviewed workers, who quit at the end of 2022 after nine and 10 years respectively, said they were not aware of any safety or environmental violations, and “completely trust the company.” Neither worked in the painting process, but were involved in the supply of water for production and in phone-case making.
All four workers agreed on one thing: Compared to other manufacturing facilities in Bac Ninh, Samsung was still the best company in terms of salary, labor safety, environmental standards, and employee incentives.
“That’s using Vietnam like it’s a garbage can.”
In 2021, the smartphone painting stage at the center of Kang’s allegations was moved to Samsung’s factory in the Thai Nguyen province in northeastern Vietnam, and outsourced to its suppliers.
Kang also claims that environmental and labor violations at Samsung’s vendors — around 80% of which were South Korean companies operating in Vietnam — were worse. In his interview with Rest of World, he cited his 2017 report alleging that some had even secretly and rampantly used methanol, a chemical that had been restricted by Samsung.
In early March this year, 37 workers at HSTECH Vina, Samsung’s second-tier supplier in Bac Ninh, were diagnosed with methanol poisoning, media reported. A 42-year-old woman died, and two 16- and 17-year-old teenagers were in critical condition with severe eye and brain damage. According to Vietnamese labor law, employers are not allowed to expose employees over 15 and under 18 to any work involving chemicals.
On March 29, six public interest groups, including IPEN, gathered at Samsung’s global headquarters in Seoul and called on the company to take responsibility for the incident. The groups also demanded that Samsung ban the use of methanol altogether in its factories and supply chain.
“Samsung must take responsibility for accidents and stop outsourcing risks,” said Di
Gangi.
He also believed that the company had enough resources to comply with environmental regulations, but had potentially skirted them in Vietnam. “That’s using Vietnam like it’s a garbage can,” Di
Gangi said.
In December 2022, Vietnam’s prime minister Pham Minh Chinh pledged to continue creating favorable conditions for Samsung Group’s ventures in the country. He also said he expected Samsung to consider Vietnam the most important base in its production chain.
Kang told Rest of World he wanted better for those still working in the plants.“Samsung was not the Samsung that the corporation promised to be. I had been completely alone for many years of fighting, asking them to comply with the regulations,” he said.
