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"Korean government afraid of the IMF"

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26 March, 2002Former KMWF President Mun was released from prison yesterday (March 26). The KMWF, thanking the IMF for its support, says the Korean government was afraid of another IMF action.

REPUBLIC OF KOREA: The then-president of the Korean Metal Workers' Federation, Mun Sung-hyun, was jailed after he attended the IMF Congress in Sydney in November last year. After an extensive IMF campaign and an IMF-coordinated Action Day for trade unionists in South Korea, Mun was released yesterday, March 26 (see earlier article for more information). In a letter to IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi, the president of the Korean Metal Workers' Federation (KMWF), Baek Soon-whan, thanks all IMF affiliates for the support they have given. The KMWF president writes that the Korean government was very afraid of the second IMF international action campaign that was under discussion within the IMF. "Lee Hye-ja, the wife of Mun Sung-hyun, said that when she got a phone call from a government official, she was told that the Korean government did not want to see another IMF international action in the future." The full text of the letter can be accessed via the link above left.