VICTIMS OF DEADLY HUMIDIFIER STERILIZERS

[Anchor Lead]

The number of victims of the deadly humidifier sterilizers keeps growing even 11 years after the tragedy. However, the matter has yet to be addressed properly. Even victims who have been officially acknowledged by the government are oftentimes excluded from apologies and compensation. The only thing they can do now is to express their anger through street rallies.

[Pkg]

Jun-seok, who stands 172cm tall and weighs 41kg, is shorter and thinner than his peers. His lungs were severely damaged by a toxic humidifier sterilizer when he was just two years old. He cannot run like his peers at PE classes.

[Soundbite] Choo Jun-young(Jun-seok's mother) : "He takes seven kinds of drugs and receives immunotherapy every other week."

In July 2021 Jun-seok was officially acknowledged as a victim, but he never received compensation from the maker of the sterilizer. Oxy paid out compensations between 2016 and March 2021, but the boy was excluded from the list of those eligible because of the government's belated screening procedure.

[Soundbite] Choo Jun-young(Jun-seok's mother) : "It took us five years. We first applied in 2016. We have fallen victim to the gov’t and the sterilizer producer at the same time."

Some 1,200 people were not acknowledged as victims until a special law was revised.

[Soundbite] "Our outcry cannot be heard..."

Mother's shoes, husband's wheelchair... the bereaved families still cannot let go of their loved ones' belongings because there is no end in sight to the scandal surrounding the deadly humidifier sterilizer. This father who lost his 50-day-old baby has been fighting for justice for nearly six years.

[Soundbite] Lee Jang-soo(Bereaved family of humidifier sterilizer tragedy) : "I've been attending rallies for six years now, but nothing has changed. Oxy refuses to negotiate, and so does Aekyung."

The bereaved families and civic groups are condemning the producers of toxic sterilizers for evading responsibility, and urging the public to boycott their products. From Seoul to Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province to Daejeon and Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do Province the bereaved families and victims continue their lonely struggle eleven years on.