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12 July, 2000Trade unions believe the government is bent on wiping them out.
KOREA, REP: The International Metalworkers' Federation is once more extremely shocked and concerned to learn of the brutal treatment meted out by police on trade union activists in the Republic of Korea and strongly condemns such abuse of power.
The last two weeks have seen stepped up state violence against striking Korean workers, and labour unions believe that the government of Kim Dae-jung is bent on wiping out the trade union movement. A KCTU statement on July 11 declared that the "spate and magnitude of police violence in the last two weeks could not have been undertaken if the government ever thought to respect the constitutionally guaranteed rights of workers and trade unions."
On July 10, while attempting to disperse a public rally being held in the compound of the Lotte Hotel by trade union members requesting a resumption of negotiations with the hotel's management, thousands of riot police trampled hundreds of workers who were lying on the ground and hauled them away. A number of trade unionists suffered injuries requiring hospitalisation. Thirty trade union leaders, among them the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' president, Dan Byung-ho, were dragged into a police bus, detained there for two hours and severely beaten. When riot police forced Dan Byung-ho to crouch with his head between his knees, one of them shouted, "He may be your president, but not ours!" He was then kicked and punched.
The KCTU reports that it will bring a law suit against the police "for disrupting a legal public rally and assault on trade unionists." As a supreme act of protest and resolution in Korean culture, seven KCTU leaders, including Dan and the general secretary, have had their heads totally shaved to protest against police violence and show their resolve in their struggle.
A new round in the KCTU campaign will begin on July 14 with a nationwide protest action.
The last two weeks have seen stepped up state violence against striking Korean workers, and labour unions believe that the government of Kim Dae-jung is bent on wiping out the trade union movement. A KCTU statement on July 11 declared that the "spate and magnitude of police violence in the last two weeks could not have been undertaken if the government ever thought to respect the constitutionally guaranteed rights of workers and trade unions."
On July 10, while attempting to disperse a public rally being held in the compound of the Lotte Hotel by trade union members requesting a resumption of negotiations with the hotel's management, thousands of riot police trampled hundreds of workers who were lying on the ground and hauled them away. A number of trade unionists suffered injuries requiring hospitalisation. Thirty trade union leaders, among them the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' president, Dan Byung-ho, were dragged into a police bus, detained there for two hours and severely beaten. When riot police forced Dan Byung-ho to crouch with his head between his knees, one of them shouted, "He may be your president, but not ours!" He was then kicked and punched.
The KCTU reports that it will bring a law suit against the police "for disrupting a legal public rally and assault on trade unionists." As a supreme act of protest and resolution in Korean culture, seven KCTU leaders, including Dan and the general secretary, have had their heads totally shaved to protest against police violence and show their resolve in their struggle.
A new round in the KCTU campaign will begin on July 14 with a nationwide protest action.