The fight, which has lasted over a decade, has gained impetus after the labor ministry in February decided to disclose Samsung's workplace report to those who file for the industrial accident compensation and their families.

Samsung has quickly filed suits against the ministry's decision, claiming such a move could lead to a leakage of its core technologies, including the semiconductor manufacturing process and chemical components.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it will convene a meeting of the industrial technology protection committee at an earlier date to review whether Samsung's report should be exempted from public disclosure.

The expert panel will only judge whether the report contains information related to its key technologies, leaving the decision whether to open it to the public to labor authorities, a ministry official said.

If the committee composed of outside experts concludes information contained in the report is part of "key national technologies," Samsung is expected to submit the result to the local court to withhold its disclosure.

Former workers and their families have raised suspicions that conditions at the company's memory chip factories have led to higher occurrences of illnesses, such as leukemia and other cancers among workers.

Samsung Electronics has denied that there is a connection between work conditions in chip manufacturing and illnesses suffered by its former employees.(Yonhap)