Samsung Electronics Co. agreed with victims of leukemia and other work-related diseases Tuesday to set up an independent body in charge of checking working conditions at its facilities as part of efforts to better prevent them.   

The agreement, signed by representatives from Samsung Electronics and two groups representing the victims and their families, calls for establishing an ombudsman committee outside the firm, which will be charged with reviewing workplace safety measures.

The company will also open a health care center for its workers while continuing its research on work-related diseases, an arbitration committee in charge of settling the dispute said. 

Samsung also agreed to expand the size and role of the organization in charge of workplace safety and health. 

Controversy over Samsung's responsibility for workers' illnesses has been growing since 2007 after Hwang Yu-mi, a former employee at Samsung's chipmaking facility south of Seoul, died from leukemia.

Samsung's full-fledged efforts to settle the issue started in May 2014, when the tech giant officially promised compensation over the deaths and suffering of the victims for the first time.

The Protector of Health and Human Rights of Semiconductor Workers, the advocacy group representing the victims who fell ill or died while working at Samsung, claims more than 200 employees at its chip and display production lines are suffering from work-related diseases, with the death toll reaching 71 as of end-September. The figure has not been officially verified. 

In August last year, Samsung vowed to create a 100 billion-won fund for compensation and research work-related diseases. 

Samsung, the world's leading maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs, has been compensating the victims since September, with the number of recipients reaching 100 as of end-2015.

But Samsung and the victims' groups have not yet reached a final agreement on compensations and apologies, which have been at the heart of the prolonged debate. (Yonhap)