[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Visually impaired individuals have won a partial victory in a damages lawsuit filed against major online shopping malls selling essential daily goods, seeking compensation for discrimination in information access.
The Civil Division 30 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Han Seong-su) ruled on the 18th that out of 963 visually impaired plaintiffs, including Mr. Im Hong-ju, who sued Emart, eBay Korea, and Lotte Shopping for a total of over 5.7 billion KRW, the plaintiffs partially won the case. The court ordered Emart and eBay Korea to pay each plaintiff 100,000 KRW, and Lotte Shopping to pay between 100,000 and 170,000 KRW. The total compensation amounts to 300 million KRW. The court also ruled that within six months, Emart, eBay Korea, and Lotte Shopping must provide information on all transaction products and categories accessible via screen readers for the visually impaired on their respective shopping mall websites.
Previously, in September 2017, 963 visually impaired individuals, including Mr. Im, filed this lawsuit against the three companies, claiming "discrimination in the use of shopping malls due to insufficient consideration for the visually impaired." The claimed compensation was 2 million KRW per person, totaling approximately 5.7 billion KRW for all three companies combined. At the time, the plaintiffs argued, "Delivery services from online shopping malls to homes are especially necessary for visually impaired people who have difficulty walking, but it is not easy for them to access and purchase on the sites," and "Non-visually impaired people receive benefits that visually impaired people do not, which they feel is discriminatory."
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