PAGO PAGO (Pacnews) — A paramount chief in American Samoa, Galea’i Tu’ufuli, says he is determined to clear the territory’s name, which has been damaged by the Daewoosa garment factory scandal.
Galea’i, who is also the Manu’a district governor, says American Samoa has often been mentioned in connection with sweatshop operations and human trafficking following the arrest of the South Korean Daewoosa owner Kil Soo Lee on charges of slavery two years ago.
But he says his investigations show that the United States agreed to a free trade agreement with Vietnam, despite questions over that country’s human rights record.
Galea’i says the policy led to a series of events resulting in the Daewoosa fiasco.
The factory employed Vietnamese and Chinese workers and was Korean-owned.
Before the Daewoosa case, allegations were made in the early 1990s of Indonesian and ni-Vanuatu fishermen being harshly treated on South Korean long line fishing vessels operating out of the American Samoan capital Pago Pago.
