'Radon Bed Incident' Consumers Lose Compensation Lawsuit Against Daejin Bed

Press conference urging the establishment of a public-private joint task force on the Daejin radon bed incident held on July 9, 2018, at the back gate of the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Consumers of 'Radon beds' detected with radioactive substances filed a lawsuit for damages against Daejin Bed but lost in the first trial.

At 2:05 PM on the 9th, Judge Jang Wonji of Civil Division 206 at the Seoul Central District Court announced in the first trial of a 138 million KRW damages claim lawsuit filed by 69 radon bed consumers against Daejin Bed Co., Ltd., "All claims of the plaintiffs are dismissed."

The 'Radon Bed Incident' refers to the case in May 2018 when radon was detected in large amounts in beds sold by Daejin Bed, a domestic small and medium-sized bed manufacturer. Radon is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and is known as a major cause of lung cancer through respiratory exposure.

At that time, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission investigated one Daejin Bed mattress and announced that the annual external radiation dose was measured at 0.06 millisieverts, which did not reach the safety standard for processed products (1 millisievert) set by the Act on Safety Control of Radiation around Living Environments. However, a second investigation measured the annual exposure dose of seven types of Daejin Bed mattresses at 1.59 to 9.35 millisieverts, leading to administrative measures such as product recalls.