LG Electronics, a major South Korean electronics manufacturer, has been linked to China's controversial labor transfer program, which has drawn widespread condemnation for its use of forced labor. This revelation, stemming from investigations, highlights the company's involvement in a program that has raised significant human rights concerns.
According to a May 2025 report by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), LG's factory, LG Panda Appliances, in Jiangsu province, employs workers transferred from Xinjiang under this program. This contradicts LG's earlier claims of severing ties with implicated suppliers. The investigation showed that LG Panda Appliances is one of at least 75 factories in China using Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz workers.
In response to these findings, LG adopted human rights principles in July 2024, aligning with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These principles prohibit discrimination, harassment, forced labor, and child labor. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security added two Chinese entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List in October 2024. The EU enacted a regulation in December 2024 to prohibit products made with forced labor on the Union market.
These developments underscore the ongoing global efforts to address forced labor in supply chains. LG Electronics faces scrutiny to ensure its operations do not contribute to human rights abuses. The company's commitment to human rights and international regulations reflects a growing need for corporate responsibility.