North and South Korea

Korea: “Will workers continue to live as the slaves of the capitalists?”

600 workers have been occupying the paint shop at the Ssangyong Motor plant in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, for over two months to protest over massive job cuts that are part of a restructuring plan. The company had planned to sack 36% of the workforce. Gas, water and food supplies to the paint shop were cut off ten days ago and riot police have surrounded the plant and are threatening a massive raid on the factory to evict the workers. The police have dropped tear-gas using helicopters and are working alongside company-hired thugs armed with baseball bats and martial arts weapons. The workers...

Korean unions call general strike in support of Sanggyong Motors' Occupation

Report from worker in solidarity 21 July When we finished night shift work at 5:30 this morning, we went to Pyeongtaek in front of the gate of the Ssangyong factory where the struggles were going on, just like yesterday. At around 09:00 to 10:00 AM there were many buses loaded with riot police arriving around the gate, and approximately 20 cars for fire fighting arrived also. While 2,000 riot police were trying to get near the paint plant, the workers responded with a slingshot and sometimes Molotov cocktails.That slingshot is too big and using bolt and nut as a bullet, so it's distance is...

North Korea tests bomb

On 25 April, North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in three years. It followed this up by restarting its main nuclear reactor, threatening to attack South Korea if it joins US-led inspections of ships suspected of carrying nuclear weapons, and firing five short range missile tests to show its teeth. The regime walked away from talks last month after the UN Security Council condemned its test-launch of a long-range ballistic missile. Now the Security Council is threatening to strengthen the economic sanctions already in place against North Korea. North Korea says it no longer considers...

Workers of the world

Iran In late November, Education International (international federation of teaching unions) received information from contacts inside Iran that Kurdish teacher activist Farzad Kamangar was being prepared for execution in the notorious Evin Prison. There was a flurry of activity, with many thousands of people around the world responding to the request to email Iranian president Ahmedinejad against Kamangar’s execution. Latest reports suggest that Kamangar is still alive, but he remains in imminent danger. Kamangar has been convicted of involvement with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) but his...

The ups and downs of Korean labour

On 19 January Housmans bookshop in King’s Cross was packed with around fifty people coming to hear Loren Goldner speak on the recent history of the militant South Korean working class. Goldner, a left communist and a former Shachtmanite talked about modern labour movement activism in the face of rapid economic development, and the post World War Two era and the labour movement’s attitude to the Stalinist state in the North. The South Korean labour movement has long faced difficult circumstances. Immediately after the end of World War Two, with Japanese troops replaced with American occupiers...

South Korean migrant workers' leaders deported

From the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Update on Repression against MTU: Three Leaders Deported, Morning of Dec. 13! Early this morning (Dec. 13) President Kajiman, Vice President Raju and General Secretary Masum of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade Union (a KCTU affiliate) were secreted out of Cheongju Detention Center, where they had been confined since they were arrested in a targeted crackdown on November 27. It has been confirmed that they were transported to Incheon International Airport and deported to their native countries (Nepal and Bangladesh) during the morning...

North Korea and nuclear weapons

By Sacha Ismail North Korea’s underground detonation of a nuclear device on 9 October, with the threat of more tests to come, should be a cause of major alarm for the labour movement and left internationally. So should the Bush government's push for sanctions against North Korea and the increased possibility of conflict in the region. Unfortunately the crisis has elicited a distinct lack of internationalist, “third camp” responses. In Britain, we are used to the leaders of the labour movement supporting nuclear weapons. At this year’s TUC Congress, the General Council tried to force the RMT to...

korea

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) began a general strike on 28 February against the government moves to impose greater “flexibility” on Korean workers. The KCTU claim 150,000 trade unionists at over 150 workplaces, including 75,000 workers of Hyundai Motors, Kia Motors and Korail, took part in the strike action. During the strike, the KCTU held massive protest rallies in 10 major cities. The KCTU said that the legislation would do little to improve the working conditions of temporary workers, while allowing employers to hire more irregular workers and simply lay them off before...

Korean unions call general strike

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions called a general strike on 28 February against Korean government moves to impose greater "flexibility" on Korean workers. Jo Jun-Ho, the President of the KCTU, has sent the following message: On behalf of the KCTU, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, with its 800,000 grass-root members, I'm appreciating to deliver to all of you, the fact that the KCTU has called on a general strike from February 28th protesting the passage of a irregular workers legislation by the Parliament environment and labour committee. Over the participation of the...

Workers' news round-up

Bolivia The Bolivian elections on 18 December are being hailed as the end of 20 years of neoliberalism. Evo Morales, from the Movement to Socialism (MAS) party, who came second in the 2002 presidential election, is the leading candidate in the polls, with over 30% of the vote. The elections were called after the uprising in May-June this year, which forced out sitting president Carlos Mesa. The left in Bolivia do not believe the election or Morales will solve the problems facing Bolivian workers. Oscar Olivera, leader of the Coordinator of the Defence of Water and Life in Bolivia, the...

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