Korea Line Corp
5880
2
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Korea Line Corporation has for years disposed of its end-of-life vessels by selling them for scrapping on the beaches of Bangladesh and Pakistan. This practice, known as beaching, takes place in conditions where workers face extreme hazards without adequate safety measures, regularly resulting in serious injuries and fatalities. The company’s repeated use of these yards constitutes a direct contribution to these dangerous and exploitative working conditions.
The Council on Ethics for Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global recommended the fund’s exclusion of Korea Line Corporation in June 2017, citing the company’s contribution to serious human rights violations and severe environmental damage through this practice. Norges Bank implemented the exclusion in January 2018. The Council’s assessment noted there were no indications the company would cease beaching, and it would only reconsider the exclusion if, after four years, the company had sent no ships for beaching or had given notice it had stopped the practice.
Korea Line Corp is a South Korean shipping company whose end-of-life vessel disposal practices have resulted in documented severe environmental damage. The company has been excluded from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global based on an assessment that its shipbreaking activities cause “severe environmental damage” and related pollution.
The Council on Ethics for the fund found that Korea Line Corp disposes of ships by means of beaching on the tidal flats of South Asia, a method linked to the uncontrolled release of toxic materials into the marine environment. The fund’s decision explicitly cited the company’s contribution to environmental pollution and the severe ecological harm caused by these practices. There are no public indications that the company has ceased this disposal method or committed to a sustainable ship recycling standard.
Research Sources
1 organization
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