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16 April, 2001The police attack occurred when union members, holding a court order, tried to enter the union office.
KOREA, REP: The IMF was shocked to learn of the particularly violent police assault on members of the Daewoo Motors Workers' Union on April 10. Riot police attacked when over 300 members of the union, who were accompanied by their lawyer holding a copy of a court order, tried to enter their union office, located within the Pupyong plant of Daewoo Motors, in Inchon.
What ensued was incredible police brutality and disregard for law, legal rights and human rights. When the police rampage ended, the street was literally strewn with the injured. A total of 43 unionists had to be taken to the hospital with broken arms and legs, serious head wounds, one person was almost blinded and another had a perforated lung.
Following the Daewoo management's forcible removal of striking workers from the Daewoo union office on February 19, 2001, and closing it down, the Inchon District Court has now ruled that union members should not be obstructed from entering the union office to conduct legitimate union activities and that members of the industrial federation or national confederation to which the union belongs - the KMWF and the KCTU - could enter the union office to provide support for legitimate union activities.
According to a Reuters news report of today (April 17), the incident has drawn very strong criticism from the public and the opposition party, apparently forcing the government to fire the police chiefs of Pupyong and Inchon.
What ensued was incredible police brutality and disregard for law, legal rights and human rights. When the police rampage ended, the street was literally strewn with the injured. A total of 43 unionists had to be taken to the hospital with broken arms and legs, serious head wounds, one person was almost blinded and another had a perforated lung.
Following the Daewoo management's forcible removal of striking workers from the Daewoo union office on February 19, 2001, and closing it down, the Inchon District Court has now ruled that union members should not be obstructed from entering the union office to conduct legitimate union activities and that members of the industrial federation or national confederation to which the union belongs - the KMWF and the KCTU - could enter the union office to provide support for legitimate union activities.
According to a Reuters news report of today (April 17), the incident has drawn very strong criticism from the public and the opposition party, apparently forcing the government to fire the police chiefs of Pupyong and Inchon.