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Those who had been hit by the gunshots were sent to hospital on January 17.
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Incidents underscore need for increased security for workers in insecure regions
A week after the abduction of nine Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. workers in Nigeria, another South Korean was attacked by armed locals in the same country. After these incidents, many are urging improved safety measures for workers of South Korean firms doing business in insecure regions. A worker of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), identified as Mun, was shot in the leg by armed locals in Port Harcourt, southern Nigeria, on January 17. He is currently hospitalized and his injury is not critical, according the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The nine men kidnapped earlier were released and have since returned to South Korea. An official of the ministry said that "while Mun was traveling by boat with nine other passengers, about 16 Nigerians aboard two speedboats approached them and opened fire. They took money and other articles." HHI is building a plant in Nigeria, and Mun was on his way to a construction site near Port Harcourt. During the attack, others were not as lucky as was Mun. A Dutch supervisor and a Nigerian guard died on the spot, and five others were wounded besides Mun. The boat was owned by HHI, but it was not clear whether the other passengers were also working for the South Korean firm.Reuters on January 17 quoted a local military source as saying the incident was an armed robbery targeting the passengers’ money. In Nigeria alone, there have been four cases of attacks or abductions involving South Koreans since 2005. Large South Korean firms, such as Daewoo Engineering and Construction, HHI, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, are currently doing business in this African nation and are making large profits by building oil field plants or oil pipelines. Most of these companies are located in the Niger Delta region, with 567 South Korean workers in the country. There are dozens of armed groups in the delta region and more than 80 foreigners were kidnapped there last year alone. European and American enterprises have invested huge amounts of money for security for their workers, but South Korean companies are different, sources say. One source familiar with the situation said that South Korean companies do not invest enough money in the protection of their workers. According to an official of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), who worked in Nigeria from 2002 until 2006, "The antipathy of natives in the oil field regions against the oil companies’ ’exploitation’ is serious. Those companies employ local security firms, but when such incidents happen, [the local security forces] just flee. Therefore, there is no way to prevent these incidents from reoccurring." An official of a public corporation who was freed after being kidnapped in Nigeria last year said, "On many occasions, I saw members of armed organizations carrying knives even before the abduction happened. They are former fishermen who organized the armed groups after being driven out by the construction of oil plants." The government said that it would prepare preventive measures for companies doing business in insecure regions. However, the government said that it has no fundamental measures in place at the moment. Minister Song said, "It is impossible to prepare measures guaranteeing 100-percent safety. What we can do is to lower the danger level, but the companies also should step up their own safety measures." Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
