Indian Korean Companies Request Indian Government to Lift Travel Restrictions on LG Chem Support Team

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Korean companies operating in India have requested the local government and industry to support lifting the travel restrictions on the LG Chem gas leak accident response team.

According to the industry on the 18th, the Federation of Korean Associations in India (Korcham India) recently sent an official letter with this content to the Indian Ministry of Commerce and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

In the letter, Korcham India pointed out, "The LG Chem response team, which arrived in India immediately after the accident, has been prevented from leaving by the local police since the end of last month and has not been able to return for over three weeks."

The letter emphasized, "Other LG employees remain in India, and the factory is under government control, so the response team is no longer needed."

It added, "The restriction on the response team could send an unintended signal to the Korean business community," expressing concern and requesting, "Please help them return to Korea."

Korcham India is a private organization representing over 750 Korean companies in India.

Korcham India plans to soon contact senior officials of Andhra Pradesh, who are blocking the departure, to explain the situation and seek cooperation.

LG Chem dispatched a response team on the 13th of last month after a styrene gas leak accident occurred on the 7th at LG Polymers, its Indian subsidiary factory.

The eight-member response team, led by Roh Guk-rae, head of the Petrochemical Business Division, met with affected residents and government officials, completing much of the accident response, and attempted to leave Visakhapatnam on the 26th of last month but was stopped by the state police.

Although all approvals from aviation authorities were obtained and there were no procedural issues with departure, the state police blocked their exit.

The police and state government reportedly did not provide specific reasons regarding the travel restrictions.

In this regard, the Korean Embassy in India has also dispatched staff locally to contact the state government and is working to resolve the situation. Despite efforts including requests to the federal government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs, the state government is said to maintain a firm stance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.