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1 March, 2000After serving four years as president of the FKTU, Korean trade union leader is switching to a new political career.
KOREA, REP: The president of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, Park In-sang, has resigned his presidency of the one-million-strong umbrella labour group and announced his intention to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections on April 13. Park, who served four years as FKTU leader, was a former president of the IMF-affiliated Federation of Korean Metalworkers Trade Unions and has served altogether 36 years in the South Korean labour movement.
Although he expressed regret at stepping down from the presidency of the FKTU, Park said that if he is elected to Parliament one of his foremost missions as a lawmaker will be to "find solutions to unresolved labour issues, including the payment of full-time union officials' salaries." The FKTU will now be concentrating efforts on supporting election campaigns of pro-labour candidates. In a federation news release, the labour group stated that the main reason for Park's launching of a new political career was to extend the political influence of the working class and to "politicize the working class by speeding up the timing for creating a labour party" in the Republic of Korea.
There has been objection from some leaders of industrial union federations to Park's resignation because they feel this may weaken the FKTU's status, and a lively pro and con Internet debate on the issue is taking place among workers. Park has always been considered as a progressive, respected, fair-minded trade union leader.
Although he expressed regret at stepping down from the presidency of the FKTU, Park said that if he is elected to Parliament one of his foremost missions as a lawmaker will be to "find solutions to unresolved labour issues, including the payment of full-time union officials' salaries." The FKTU will now be concentrating efforts on supporting election campaigns of pro-labour candidates. In a federation news release, the labour group stated that the main reason for Park's launching of a new political career was to extend the political influence of the working class and to "politicize the working class by speeding up the timing for creating a labour party" in the Republic of Korea.
There has been objection from some leaders of industrial union federations to Park's resignation because they feel this may weaken the FKTU's status, and a lively pro and con Internet debate on the issue is taking place among workers. Park has always been considered as a progressive, respected, fair-minded trade union leader.