two suicides

CINA blog has two stories of note on two suicides that highlight the problem about the high level of economic inequality and systemic brutality experienced by irregular workers and self-employed venders in South Korea.

The first is from a rally by striking irregular construction workers in Incheon on Sunday where one worker immolated himself in protest. As well documented on this site, the struggles of Korean construction workers have been some of the most difficult and intense of the last few years. In addition, and unlike action in other sectors as reported below, there remains complete government inaction here.

The second, comes after the brutal clearance of vendors in the city of Goyang, by hired thugs and city officials. The VOP international new site has a story on the repression there and CINA follows up with a few extra pictures from other sources.