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500 Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) members held a press conference and rally in front of the headquarters of the conservative Grand National Party to urge the South Korean government to abolish the bill on special economic zones (SEZ), which was temporarily shelved yesterday as a result of impending opposition from labor.

* Struggle Videos
- Video I: Police arrested Yoo Deok-sang, acting chairman of KCTU, and Lee Nam-sun, chairman of FKTU Real Player | Window Media

- Video II: Harsh and cruel policy of the government toward laborers (Police attacked the workers) Real Player | Window Media

- Video III: The National Assembly is Mad, and the riot-police use violence very severely on November 14th(Police attacked the workers) Real Player | Window Media

Photo from KCTU News (http://news.nodong.org)

by PatchA, Kanarchist and Terry Park/Base21 Media Activists
patcha@jinbo.net
kanarchy@jinbo.net
parkterry@hotmail.com

500 Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) members held a press conference and rally in front of the headquarters of the conservative Grand National Party to urge the South Korean government to abolish the bill on special economic zones (SEZ), which was temporarily shelved yesterday as a result of impending opposition from labor. Both the KCTU and the moderate Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) called the SEZ's "colonial slaver zones of transnational capitalism." They also threatened a general strike commencing at Sunday's National Workers Rally if the National Assembly had passed the bill. The finance and economy committee of the National Assembly approved and handed the bill over to the legislation and judiciary committee on November 7th, who later approved the anti-labor bill, but the government bowed down to labor pressure before the strike could begin.

Despite the presence of the moderate FKTU, the government dispatched approximately 2,000 riot police and blockaded protestors. Police arrested Yoo Deok-sang, acting chairman of KCTU, and Lee Nam-sun, chairman of FKTU.

Several labor union members were severly injured in scuffles with police and were taken to the hospital. This shows how harsh and cruel the government's policy toward laborers are. Indeed, after the KCTU announced that the recently-postponed five-day workweek bill was "irrational and incomplete," Minister of Labor Bang Yong-suk said a few days ago that those who think that the workweek bill is a trash are trash themselves.