Joyce Lee, Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL/SAN FRANCISCO – More than 30 representatives from South Korean major companies attended the CES Tech trade show in Las Vegas last Wednesday. They tested positive for COVID-19 in America, according to industry sources.

According to sources, around 20 Samsung Electronics employees (OTC) as well as six representatives from SK Group, which is the parent company of energy firm SK Innovation, and chipmaker SK Hynix were some of those who had tested positive after attending CES.

The two men declined to be identified because they were not authorized to address media.

Hyundai Heavy Industries stated that six employees of Hyundai Heavy Industries who were present at CES had tested positive in the United States. They were placed into quarantine and others have since been allowed to leave.

South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said that “multiple” Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Motor officials attended CES, which was also positive. They were also positive upon their return to South Korea.

Son Young-rae said that “Many Korean businesspeople” who were present at CES are infected by COVID-19. He was a senior official from South Korea’s health ministry.

“We will be contacting the participants in this event asap and performing epidemiological investigations. However, we ask domestic businesspeople to have PCR testing done as soon as they can.” he stated.

The majority of Samsung (KS) executives who have tested positive were flown from Nevada to Korea in chartered flight number 214. They arrived late Tuesday Seoul Time. Meanwhile, the rest Samsung officials will be flying back Wednesday according to South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, which cited unidentified sources within the industry.

According to the newspaper, most of those affected by Samsung’s illness are now being quarantined in South Korea.

Unable to get a response from CES operator Consumer Technology Association, CTA spokesperson

Nevada health authorities stated, “Many cases have recent travel histories, attended events and visited multiple locations where they may have contracted their disease.” According to them, they don’t have any evidence that links the recent rise in COVID-19-related cases with CES.

Samsung Electronics refused to provide details. The company said it had taken “a number of measures to protect the well-being and health of (CES) attendees”, which included requiring the use of vaccines, mask mandates as well as social distancing protocols. It also provided testing for employees at all times during the week.

SK Group did not confirm this, citing its policy that it does not disclose any personal information. Multiple requests to comment were not answered by Hyundai Motor Group.

South Korea has reported 381 foreign-infected cases for Tuesday. That’s a record according to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The daily total of infection across South Korea is now 4,388.

Son, a health ministry official said that the Omicron variant spreads most commonly to infections in the overseas. However, the number of CES participants who were positive for the Omicron strain did play a part.