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Formation of a Broad Coalition For the Release of KCTU President Dan Byung-ho

The unexpected and treacherous imprisonment of KCTU president Dan Byung-ho has stirred up the emotions of Koreans from all walks of life.

Religious leaders including prominent Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, and Buddhists monks, as well as university professors, lawyers, medical professionals, famous personalities from the culture and arts, and of course the leaders of various social movements, are joining together to demand the release of President Dan.

The move towards the formation of a "Free Dan Committee" is indicative of the magnitude of the shock his extended imprisonment has had on Korean society.

The Inexplicable Wave of the Imprisonment of Workers - Why?

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has been at the center of trade unions' and workers' responses to the economic crisis precipitated by the Asian financial melt-down of 1997, the subsequent crisis management prescription of the International Monetary Fund, and the structural adjustment campaign led by newly elected president Kim Dae Jung's government.

At each turn of the government's structural adjustment program, whether it was the restructuring of the financial sector, the public sector, or the private sector, KCTU was at the forefront in the effort to organize the workers' response. It opposed the main policy instruments the government has promoted in its structural adjustment program: across the board reduction of the workforce in the public sector, the forced closure of enterprises, the forced merger of companies, the sell-off of public assets to the private sector, and the blind pursuit of sales of private and public assets to foreign interests.

KCTU's response was inspired by the analysis and belief that the policies brought to Korea by the IMF and the programs pursued by the government were "wrong." It strongly believed that there were other ways to address the problem at hand and that Korean society and the economy should embrace more important goals in response to the crisis triggered by the volatility in the global economic system and the chronic malaise in the Korean economy, society, and politics.

KCTU and its member unions at different enterprises were, however, never given a chance to present its vision, arguments, and policy alternatives. There was never an opportunity to engage in a genuine dialogue to arrive at a mutually acceptable arrangement.

KCTU did try to make known its ideas and proposals for genuine reform. Unfortunately, no one in the policy-making circles, neither in the government nor in the business sector cared to listen. If some of them did hear of KCTU's proposals, they certainly do not remember them now. There are even few people today within KCTU who knows clearly what KCTU's vision was.

This is because KCTU, its member unions, and its individual members, as well as the workers in general, were violently forced to quickly defend themselves by any means necessary, including turning their backs to their own fellow workers as others were being driven from their jobs. Some felt fortunate that they were not a victim of the restructuring process, and there was an overall feeling that there was nothing anyone could do.

KCTU was forced to wage a struggle to defend its members from losing their jobs, their wages, and their dignity. Its campaigns were fueled by desperate people who were on the verge of losing their jobs or their wages slashed by half and their job security in tatters. The struggle of workers at Daewoo Motors, Korea Telecom, Hotel Lotte, and various commercial banks and financial institutions, public services, and the desperation of concrete delivery vehicle drivers, street cleaners and garbage collectors, were all part of the KCTU campaign.

KCTU would have like to have organized grand campaigns for a dignified cause. But its campaigns became nothing more than a motley collection of desperate workers trying to hold on to their jobs.

What appeared to emerge to the public was a government with a noble vision to save the country, held back and undermined by selfish workers and unions trying to hold on to their jobs and their lives.

The Urgency of the Economic Crisis and the Nobel Laureate Human Rights Champion: Nowhere to Turn for "Selfish Workers"

This is why there has not been any outcry in the face of the arrest and imprisonment of 650 workers and trade union activists and leaders. This number was achieved in three years and ten months at the start of President Kim Dae Jung's term. His predecessor, President Kim Young Sam, had a record of 632 imprisoned unionists obtained by the end of his five year term, but this was broken. In this year alone, 205 unionists have been imprisoned, so far. (The highest number of imprisoned unionists per year during the term of President Kim Young Sam was 213. President Kim Dae Jung is set to carve up another historic first with virtually full three months remaining this year.)

Even the most ardent advocates of democracy and human rights--respected moral leaders since the 1960s and 70s--have remained silent at this depressing reality. The specter of the economic crisis paralyzed the instinct for critical thinking; the significance of Kim Dae Jung's presidency had dulled the vigilance for human rights; and the bloody squabble over jobs and wages seemed undignified to warrant a human rights perspective.

However, the imprisonment of Dan Byung-ho, the president of an organisation that represents the ongoing struggle of Korean workers for workers' rights and democracy, was something entirely different.

President Dan became wanted for arrest in early June this year for leading a KCTU campaign. He came out from a brief period of hiding to start a sit-in strike at the Myongdong Cathedral. The government hunt for President Dan was the tip of an iceberg in terms of the government's hounding of workers and the trade union movement--more than 200 trade unionists were imprisoned this year.

On August 2nd, KCTU decided to "give up" its president, send him to jail, and present him as a sacrificial lamb at the altar of repression, in order to halt the attack on workers in particular and the trade union movement in general, and to win time to regroup to address other urgent issues.

Through a Catholic mediator, an agreement was reached between KCTU and the government to end the wave of repression. The government's "thirst for blood" seemed satiated by forcing President Dan to serve the remaining two months and four days of his previous prison sentence that was suspended in an amnesty. The government promised to stop hounding trade union leaders and forgo laying new charges against President Dan for his alleged crimes in leading the KCTU's campaign in 2001.

As a result, an unusual development was orchestrated.

A Conceited Breach of Confidence: Can the Mystique of the Human Rights Champion Last?

The second element in creating the unusual turn of events which eventually gave rise to the formation of an unprecedented "Free Dan Committee" emerged a few days before President Dan's expected release.

Breaking the promise that was made in the presence and with the blessing of a respected Catholic priest, the government has issued a fresh warrant of arrest for President Dan to keep him in jail. The government now denies that there ever was a dialogue and an agreement between KCTU and itself.

The crime he is supposed to have committed, for which the government is insisting to prosecute, is the organization of various campaigns, demonstrations, and strikes that blazed some of the scenes of KCTU-sponsored demonstrations this year.

The unexpected betrayal has shed new light on the behavior of the Kim Dae Jung government. The enormity of over 600 arrested trade unionists, more than 200 of them this year, is beginning to weigh on people.

At the same time, the anti-democratic and anti-human rights behavior inherent in the government's handling of industrial relations, which were overshadowed by the urgency of economic crisis and the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the president, suddenly came into light.

It is still too early to conclude that the situation has changed. Rather, it is bewildering to people how a government can turn its back on its own promise. This arrest and imprisonment is the third for President Dan of Kim Dae Jung's presidency.

Back to the Basics

The new awakening may still force the government to reflect seriously on its misguided and dangerous approach to labor issues and its relations with the trade union movement. This, however, will require a significant exertion of critical thinking by all reaches of society, inside and outside Korea.

The "Free Dan" movement may jolt the government and President Kim Dae Jung out of their arrogant belief that the government and the president are the only ones qualified to speak about human rights (because of the Nobel Peace Prize) and to handle an economic crisis (because of the lauded graduation from IMF tutelage).

KCTU appeals to all of its friends around the world to join in its effort to free President Dan. We ask all our of friends, friends of human rights, and friends of trade unions to let the Korean government know that peace and justice-loving people do not find this acceptable.

Letters to President Kim Dae Jung to protest the imprisonment of KCTU president Dan Byung-ho, to call on him to release the imprisoned trade union leaders, and to urge him to end his violent attitude towards workers and the trade union movement, can be sent to the following address:

Mr. Kim Dae-Jung
The President of Republic of Korea
1 Sejong-no
Jongno-ku
Seoul 110-820
Republic of Korea

E-mail: president@cwd.go.kr
Fax: +82-2-770-0347
Fax: +82-2770-0001
Tel.: +82-2-770-0018

Don't forget to send us a copy of your letter: (fax) +82-2-2635-1134, (email) inter@kctu.org.