15 November, 2023The general secretary of Federation of Korean Metalworkers' Trade Unions (FKMTU), Kim Jun-yeong, was released on bail from Gwangju prison on 3 November, after being arrested during a sit-in protest earlier this year. His next hearing will be on 20 November.
On 31 May, Kim Jun-yeong joined the sit-in protest of FKMTU members in front of the POSCO steel mill in Gwangyang on a makeshift scaffolding, seven metres above ground. He was hit repeatedly by Korean police officers, falling from the scaffolding and taken into police custody.
Kim Jun-yeong was charged under the Criminal Code, the Road Traffic Act and the Assembly and Demonstration Act for causing bodily injury, obstructing public duty, and violating assembly and demonstration procedures. Union president Kim Man-jae, who also participated in the protest, was charged under the Road Traffic Act and the Assembly and Demonstration Act.
Upon his release on bail, Kim Jun-yeong thanked for the solidarity support while in prison, and unerlined that the FKMTU will not bow down to the state repression against workers.
“I will never regret what I have done. I will continue to fight against the illegal use of police power against our union president Kim Man-jae and myself. I ask for comrades' solidarity for Korean subcontract workers' rights to unionize and bargain collectively.”
“We are pleased that brother Kim Jun-yeong has been released on bail. We will continue to follow the trial and reiterate that trade union activity is not a crime,”
says IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan.