Nintendo will "continue to carry out on-site inspections" of production partners after Foxconn used underage workers

Nintendo of America's senior director of corporate communications, Charlie Scibetta, has issued a statement regarding Nintendo's investigation into underage laborers working at and assembly plant in China.

According to a statement Scibetta gave Kotaku, Nintendo was "concerned to learn that underage individuals" had been working at a Foxconn facility.

"Nintendo investigated the incident and determined that this was a violation of the Nintendo Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Procurement Guidelines that all Nintendo production partners are required to follow, based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines," said Scibetta.

"Foxconn has taken full responsibility for this incident and has moved quickly to ensure that all affected individuals no longer work at Foxconn. In fact, Foxconn's own policies prohibit the employment of underage individuals and the company has pledged to Nintendo via direct communications to improve its process of enforcing this policy to avoid any similar issues in the future.

"As one of many companies that work with Foxconn to enhance CSR along the whole supply chain, we take this issue very seriously. As part of our ongoing procurement process, Nintendo staff will continue to carry out on-site inspections of our production partners in order to understand the actual on-site conditions and to promote socially responsible procurement."

Foxconn admitted last week it had used workers as young as 14 at its factory when the legal working age in China is 16.

“Our investigation has shown that the interns in question, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, had worked in that campus for approximately three weeks,” Foxconn told Reuters. "It is a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions.”