Samsung Everland Inc. said Monday that it has fired a worker for leaking sensitive corporate information less than a week after employees set up a trade union.

   The company, which is an affiliate of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-owned conglomerate, said Cho Jang-hee, the vice chairman of the union, has been dismissed for wrongful conduct and that its in-house disciplinary committee notified the worker of its decision.

   "The worker has handed over detailed information on 4,300 employees and executives, and sent company secrets like transaction records conducted with partner companies in the past two years," the company said.

   It said such actions can seriously hurt Samsung Everland, so there was no alternative other than to hold Cho responsible.

   It also said the disciplinary committee convened on Thursday, and Cho was asked to attend the meeting three days earlier.

   Cho is one of four workers of the amusement park arm of Samsung Group who played a leading role in establishing the union. Workers applied for the trade union last Wednesday with the country's labor ministry, the first such move within the business group in more than three decades.

   Samsung has adhered to a "no labor union policy" as part of its business culture and actively discourages workers from taking such steps.

   The conglomerate has 78 affiliates, hires roughly 270,000 workers in the country and has nine registered trade unions. The unions, however, are in its financial units and were created by management with almost no active members.

   Cho said he will contest his dismissal and asked for a review of the decision.

   The conglomerate added that another union activist is being checked for possible wrongdoings. (Yonhap News)