Audit fingers ‘child labour’

Production has been halted indefinitely at a Chinese supplier to Samsung Electronics after the factory was suspected of using child workers. Samsung, the biggest smartphone maker, said last week that it had stopped doing business with the Dongguan Shinyang Electronics factory, a wholly owned subsidiary of South Korea’s Shinyang Engineering, after an audit led to evidence of what Samsung called suspected child labour. A senior official at Shinyang Engineering said its Chinese factory had been idle since July 14. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the company had asked the Chinese authorities to investigate the firm that had supplied the factory with labour. – Reuters