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Continuing March to Jail

At 3 a.m. July 12, the day before the KCTU is scheduled to hold an emergency National Congress to adopt a new plan of action in response to the ongoing repression and arrest of union leaders, Choi Soon-im, the president of the Seoul National University Hospital Workers wing of the Korea Medical and Health Industry Workers Union (a national union of hospital workers) was arrested by police. She had been wanted for arrest following a strike (illegal as hospital workers are not allowed by law to strike, bound by "compulsory arbitration"). A member of her wing, in whose home Ms Choi was staying out of sight of the police was also arrested. She is to be charged with "hiding a criminal".

Four hours prior to the most recent arrest, two other leaders of the same union from the same hospital were also arrested. They were together the three union leaders at the SNU Hospital wanted for arrest for the strike that began on June 13 (and ended with the conclusion of a new collective bargaining agreement between the union and the management on June 25). Minister of Labour took part in the "signing ceremony" on June 25 to give encouragement to the union and the management which have successfully completed the negotiation. The three are expected to be charged with "obstruction of business" stemming from the "illegal" strike.

Government Wants to Anger the KCTU to Take Action

The most recent arrest, coming just one day prior to the emergency National Congress, is likely to influence the discussion on the current situation and plans for action in response. The Government has, in the last few days, as the KCTU prepares for the emergency National Congress, stepped up its attack.

On July 9, it became known that the Ulsan Police has ordered the arrest of Oh Kil-sung, the president of the Korean Federation of Textile-Chemical Workers Unions, for his role in coordinating industrial action in the major synthetic fibre/textile manufacturers, including the Hyosung, Taekwang-Daehan, and Kohap Ulsan Plant. The police decision follows Mr. Oh's "refusal" to report to police for questioning for three consecutive subpoenas issued against him. Following the failure to respond to the third subpoena, the police can issue "warrant of arrest".

Similar subpoenas have been issued against Ms. Cha Soo-ryun, the president of the Korean Federation of Hospital Workers Unions, and Mr. Kim Hyung-tahk, the president of the Korean Federation of Financial and Clerical Workers Unions. Ms. Cha is wanted for questioning by the police for her and the Federation's role in the recent strikes by hospital workers. Mr. Kim is wanted for questioning for his public speech made during the strike march on June 12.

Civil Servants: You want a union - you will have to earn it

The government has also issued "warrant of arrest" against 4 leaders of the Korean Association of Government Employees Works Councils (KAGEWC), including its president Mr. Cha Bong-cheun and its General Secretary Mr. Koh Kwang-shik.

The warrant of arrest, issued on July 9 by the Seoul Regional Public Prosecutors Office, follows the decision of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs to seek the disciplinary dismissal of five leaders of the KAGEWC for having organised, participated, and led a National Civil Servants Rally on June 9. The Ministry directed the chief executive of the relevant office at which these leaders are posted to undertake heaviest disciplinary action, meaning dismissal. On June 25, the Ministry informed the Public Prosecutors Office that these leaders had committed a crime, seeking the criminal prosecution against them.

The rally in question was organised by a broad network which brought some 50 civil society organisations and trade unions under a common objective of "Reform of the Civil Service and the Realisation of the Basic Labour Rights for Civil Servants". The rally, held in Changwon in south-eastern region, was attended by more than 7,000 civil servants despite shrill threat of heavy disciplinary action by the Ministry.

The four leaders of KAGEWC have now joined KCTU president Dan at the sit-in sanctuary provided by the Myongdong Cathedral.

You Shall Demonstrate Only When and Where I Tell You

On July 3, 7 teachers who were protesting in front of the Seoul Regional Education Board were rounded up by police and taken to police station. At the time 28 teachers were holding a protest picketing in front of the Board calling on the government education authority to take action to remedy the irregularities in the management and operation of the Inkwon Academy.

The ostensible reason for the violent break up of the protest picket and the subsequent apprehension of the 7 teachers was that the rally continued beyond the sun-set time beyond which demonstration cannot be held (as prescribed in the Law on Demonstration and Assembly). The police action took place around 7:10 p.m. The rally had surpassed the allowed time by 10 minutes.

3 of the apprehended teachers were released following mandatory questioning. But the police applied for "warrant of arrest" against 4 teachers seeking to hold them in remand until the completion of trial based on the charges it had laid against them. On July 6, the court granted the police a remand order against 2 teachers, while dismissing for the other 2. The police has not yet laid any charges against the 2 teachers on whom the court ruled against remand order.

The 2 teachers who are arrested and now held in remand are charged on four accounts: violation of the Law on Assembly and Demonstration, use of violence (assault), obstruction of the public law and order implementation, and causing physical harm. The first allegation refers to the incident on July 3. The three other charges refer to both the incidents on July 3 picketing and the similar picketing activities in front of the Education Board since early May. Since early May, groups of concerned teachers and students have been calling on the Education Board to intervene to remedy a disruptive situation caused by irregularities in the management and operations of the Inkwon Academy. During these numerous protest pickets teachers and students came into friction with the police, which is "normal" as police tries to keep demonstrators in check.

The little incidents at these protest pickets, which had gone without much notice, re-emerged once the teachers were arrested on July 3 on feeble charge of violating the law on demonstration as charges of assault, obstruction of law and order implementation, and causing bodily harm.

The arrest of teachers follows the repeated announcement by the government to control demonstrations. Just prior to the KCTU's general strike on July 5, the public prosecutors office announced its plans to seek a revision of the Law on Assembly and Demonstration so that the number of people taking part in a demonstration or a public meeting held in downtown Seoul is limited to 500. Already the right and freedom of assembly and expression are curtailed by the fact that law prohibits demonstration within 100 metre radius of an foreign embassy.

On July 3 and 11, the ready-mix concrete delivery truck drivers, who were holding a public protest meeting in down town Seoul, were on both occasions, broken up by the police. On July 3, the reason was that more people took part in the protest action than was given notice in the "Notice of Holding Public Assembly". On July 11, the protest action was broken up for having "transgressed" the "police line" setting the limit for protestors. But, the 33 workers who took part in the protest action complained that there was no "police line", and only the police knew where it had drawn the line. They had in fact made sure that no more than the number of people notified took part in the picket to avoid police wrath. For having had more than the notified number of people and for having crossed an unseen line, workers were all picked off the road and unceremoniously dragged into police buses. The police bus drove them out to outskirts of Seoul and dumped them there.

Break-neck Speed Rush to Prison

Since the last report to the ILO on the situation of imprisoned trade unionists (compiled on May 28, 2001, submitted on June 5, 2001), more unionists have been rounded up and put in jail.

At the time the KCTU noted that a total of 89 workers were arrested and put in jail in 2001, bringing the total in the time of President Kim Dae Jung to 528. Now, as of July 12, 2001, the figures stand at 168 and 607, respectively (including the 4 hospital workers arrested on July 11 and 12). This is an increase of 79 between May 28 to July 12. In the month of June alone, 69 unionists were arrested and ordered to be held in remand. A further 61 unionists are wanted for arrest, including the KCTU president Dan Byung-ho, KCTU general secretary Lee Hong-woo, KCTU-KPSU president Yang Kyung-kyu, KCTU-KFCU president Oh Kil-sung, and the leaders of the KAGEWC. This list does not include those leaders, like Ms Cha Soo-ryun, the president of national hospital workers union, who have been served with subpoenas, which may soon lead to "warrant of arrest".

For comparison, a total of 281 allegations and legal proceedings have been undertaken so far in 2001 against employers by unions for "unfair labour practice". Only one employer has been charged and held in prison. Since 1998, the beginning of President Kim Dae Jung's stewardship of the government, a total of 1,652 allegations or legal proceeding have been undertaken against employers. Out of this, a meagre total of 8 employers were dealt with by the police and prosecutors that resulted in arrest and imprisonment. This compares with 607 arrests-imprisonment for workers and unionists.