Not your average fashion show

Back at the end of November I was fortunate to be invited to my first fashion show. It was perhaps one of the more unique experiences I've had in Korea, so I thought I would post about it here.

The show was put on by SPARK (Social Programme for Action and Research in Korea) and the fashion label Sudagongbang, which makes modern fashion with a neo-traditional flair. The clothes seem to be made using higher quality inputs, such as natural fabrics and dyes, than one normally finds in the suits and sporting goods made in the basement and attic textile mills in the area of Dongdaemun market. The style of these clothes seems to fit somewhere business attire and taking-it-easy kind of traditional dress: whatever one would call this in Korean -- it is less formal than traditional Hanbok, and with a gentler colour scheme, but could be worn out for social occasions if desired. I guess phrases like boutique-casual or indie-prep are good ways to describe these clothes, as they are neither your typical luxury goods dominated by logos and consumer fetishism but they are also certainly much more stylish than your typical everyday wear even though they look perfect for everyday use.

The most interesting thing about the show, however, was not simply the clothes but how it came to be organized. The clothes were made and modeled by the women who made them as well as by a number of prominent figures from Korean civil society. The participants from civil society included labour union activists from the largest and most militant trade union, the KCTU; ministers of labour, justice, and gender equality; members from each of the major political parties; popular entertainers from both the social movements and from the conventional pop music industry.

The women who made the clothes were all from Changshin-dong, and participants in the SPARK program founded and run by Chun Sunok. Changshin Dong is located near the Dongdaemun textile markets and is full of thousands of small attic and basement sweatshops. These women subcontract and run small independent workshops there. Most of them have worked in this industry since the original textile boom of the seventies. The work conditions and wages have not improved much since then either and safety and workplace hazards are still quite severe. The SPARK program is located in this area and provides after-school programs for the children in the neighbourhood as well as skills upgrading and counseling for many of the women workers in the neighbourhood.

Chun Sunok herself is the sister of the late Chun Tae-Il: a martyr of the modern South Korean labour movement who immolated himself in 1970 in protest of the harsh working conditions in the Dongdaemun peace market during the time of the military dictatorship. Chun Tae-Il's injunction to government and business 'observe the labour standards act' helped to trigger the democratic trade union movement as well as opposition to military rule. Both his sister and his mother would become seminal figures in these movements as well. More so, the legacy of Chun Tae-il is intimately bound up with the democracy movement, and his story is what unites many of those who appeared on stage during the fashion show. As sort of a deep historical co-ordinate of a point in time from which progress has been made through constant confrontation with different forms of power over the many years since then.

This brings us back to November's fashion show, in that it in some ways it speaks to the democratic struggle and to its expansion of social welfare, if not showcasing a new form of it in the Korean case. Obviously the story here connects both the Changshin-Dong women with the other participants at the show. The women themselves were the producers and the performers: they were empowered in the production process and also in the consumption of these clothes. There is something liberating about that. It was nice to see different body types on stage exhibiting an interesting kind of confidence: the kind of confidence of having struggled socially to overcome both personal and political (one could also add aesthetic) obstacles and having succeeded.

All the participants, in some way, draw part of their legitimacy on the legacy on Chun Tae-il and the quest to create a more just society. This legacy has a sort of legitimizing function for the struggles that currently animate Korean society and the fact that this legacy is recognized by a wide variety of actors both inside of the state, the parties, the movements, and even the private sector is something to be applauded, even though these groups have vastly different ways of approaching these issues. Honestly, seeing Lee Soo-Ho (pictured above), head of the KCTU, on the same stage as the labour minister and a member of the right wing party was shocking to many and speaks to the ability of the organizers to unite a very disparate crowd of participants.

The tension here is that, recently, forms of irregular work have expanded to the point that even the ministries estimate that some 52% of the workforce is irregularly employed. This has been because of the response to economic crisis and to liberalized private capital has been to restructure relations at work and to limit the benefits and rights that accrue to workers. Alongside this, there has been a gradual consolidation, albeit slowly, of social welfare policies. These new forms of welfare have certainly not slowed reform or even stopped the bleeding incurred from recent economic restructuring. In the worst cases, they have acted as a legitimization of neoliberal reform efforts. Nonetheless even slow moves toward expanded social welfare should be paid attention to, even if there is a risk of forgetting that there is a risk of neglecting the more significant cutbacks that are occurring.

In the end, this was the impression I was left with after the event: that there was something shared in this legacy of social struggle, even though it always seemed to be in a moment of danger of being forgotten (and one could say that current neo-liberal economic restructuring certainly is the product of historical form of amnesia) there was also a strong potential for this legacy to support something else, something not so dominated by the work process or by exclusion from the benefits of economic development. I'm not sure if programs like this will continue to expand, and if so I'm fearful of them becoming co-opted as an excuse for further neoliberal restructuring or becoming coldly instrumentalist like they have become in North America and Europe to a degree, but for the moment this program does point to a potential for new forms of welfare that look quite interesting and participatory, and which we should consider as significant venues of social action alongside other fronts in which the social movements are currently engaged.

Some video the show can be found here, link.

Suspended sentences, suspicious sentences

1. Vice Chair of the KCTU, and founder of Speculation Watch Korea, Hur Young Gu was a given a suspended sentence for taking part in the KCTU rally against the passing of the legislation on the protection (read expansion) of non-regular work back in December. According to Yonhap news agency:

The Seoul Southern District Court sentenced Huh Yeong-gu, vice chairman of the 770,000-member Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, to two years' suspended imprisonment. Chief rally organizer Park Min was handed a one-and-a-half year sentence.

I'm not sure how suspended sentences work here, but why were they given such lengthy suspended sentences? Perhaps this is a technique for dissuading activists from participating/organizing future protests -- in this sense, if one is arrested again are the lengths of prior suspended sentences taken into account for future sentencing? At any rate, punitive protest policing, lack of democratic participation (the labour bill was passed because of a backroom agreement with the nation's conservative trade union federation and not the KCTU), and ministries obsessed with law and order (home affairs, Justice) to the point of ignoring extremely controversial labour and market reforms that only create unrest especially when done without open consent and with the abuse of executive power (fast track negotiation, secrecy, etc) -- all these things lead to the type of violent protests that we see in Korea so its silly to blame it on higher profile union leaders. If any one has any insights on why the unionists where given such high suspended sentences I'd love to hear it.

2. In case you didn't read Christian's comment on the Hyundai strike, it is over, the workers and management agreed to make up the productivity loss if the bonuses were returned. The biggest damage from the strike, however, was that the conservative media were able to use it to continue to tarnish the reputation of unions in the midst of widening domestic inequality. This was similar to the Asiana strike earlier last year. For me, the strike was pretty straight forward, and in the end the economic norm that was violated from the perspective of both sides-- wages for productivity -- was re-established. This sort of struggle is fairly common, and has nothing to do with greed but rather normative practices in the fordist (if you will) workplace. The media however, are obsessed with portraying workers who take collective action, in whatever form, as wreckers of the nation. Honestly, the Hyundai workers are paid fairly, and have successfully fought for their rights in a time of neoliberal restructuring with makes a lot of workers precarious and, unfortunately, more easily resentful at workers who make a good wage that has to do with their position in the automobile industry and for a large conglomerate -- so, it's not exactly a frontline labour struggle amongst the most vulnerable workers but these struggles are important, at least, for defending what benefits workers do have -- but what I don't understand is why the media should be so effective in turning it into a national issue. The focus here should really be on the unequal effects of neoliberal restructuring: huge profits for some conglomerates and for financial investors at the cost of diminished resources, protections, and wages for most workers and wage earners.

Both the union and the company (for signing an agreement with the workers) were targeted by the media here. Even some former student activists whom I had dinner with at this time complained at how selfish the workers were. I think these sorts criticisms are dangerous however, wages gains or bonuses in line productivity are fairly conservative features of capitalist economies in general and offer no threat to profitability much less social security. However, media reporting that frames even workers' as well as company's normative demands as negative are especially dangerous and basically serve to exclude and limit democratic participation in the economy. Hyundai is evil for even negotiation with workers, Samsung is virtuous cause it has no unions.

Next Cinema Seoulidarity Screening: Don't miss it!

Directions:
From Exit 5 of Honkik Univ. subway station, turn right at "Seven Springs". You'll come to a wide street soon with a Family Mart on the corner. Turn left and walk until the end of the street. Turn right and walk a short distance, Strange Fruit will be on your left. Map @: http://www.strangefruit.co.kr/bbs/m1.htm

Neighbour to the North

Though I don't post on North Korea issues much, I've read a few things as of late that are worth posting the links to. Over at Foreign Policy in Focus, there is good statement from John Feffer and Martin Hart-Landsberg on the morality of sanctions, including the recent economic front and the inherent danger in the Proliferation Security Intiative (PSI), against North Korea.

...because of the increased risk of war in and around the Korean peninsula, the sanctions are not only a blunt instrument but possibly a very dangerous one as well. While North Korea’s human rights record is deplorable, a war on the Korean peninsula, which would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Koreans in the first months of conflict, would be a human rights disaster of much greater magnitude.

Over and Frog in a Well, meanwhile, Owen has a funny post on the perils of using the word 'civil war' to describe the Korean War, even for the President. Seems there is very little room interpretation.

good fta stories in the Hankyoreh

Just thought I would share some stories on recent developments in the FTA negotiations that were in the Hankyoreh today (link, and link). It seems that as the negotiations progress there has been a great deal more learning going on by both the media and society at large; as a result there are much more stories available in both the alternative and even, occasionally, the mainstream press, as to what the effects of the agreement could potentially be as well as the double standards around many of the policies being negotiated.

KGEU video, FTA protests, 386 interviews

1. Over at the KGEU site they have an English video up documenting the history of the KGEU (Korean Government Employee's Union) and the ongoing repression against them. Besides that, they also have a lot of documents from their struggle and updates on the current situation and the limitations placed on the organizing rights of public and civil servants. (video: link).

2. Yesterday was the beginning of the 6th round of Free Trade Agreement negotiation between Korea and the US, as well as, you guessed it, the sixth round of protests. The government has still outlawed all anti-FTA protests, and mobilized police around the country to stop demonstrators from traveling to Seoul (link).

There is also a controversy brewing about the banning of anti-FTA ads on television. Every day the government plays numerous and frankly dreadful and misleading ads on the television, but guess what, the broadcasting agency has said that: " we have no specific data showing that life would get worse after FTA negotiations end.’’ And so, has banned the anti-FTA ads. Well, there is specific evidence about the effects of a possible FTA for the farm and film sectors, and this is not really in dispute. Also there no specific evidence that life will get better for the majority of the population either, so why the double treatment? Anyways, I never knew there was such a high bar for accuracy in advertising (and these ads are surely more accurate than most of what you see on the tube). Anyways, you can read about this here in full, it might bother you though as all cynical abuses of state power rightfully should.

Speaking of cynical abuses of power, it seems that the Korean negotiators have made even more concessions at the negotiation, basically opening the way for Chapter 11 NAFTA style lawsuits against local governments in key areas such as services and environmental protection, etc, if they cause a profit loss. The implications of this are staggering, and will probably result in a large transfer of wealth from the public to the private sphere. But that's what the negotiators seem to what, national origins aside. Here a more detailed review of the concessions here.

3. Finally, since this year is the 20th anniversary of the June 1987 Democratic Uprising, the Hankyoreh has been running a series of profiles of 80s activists (or the 386 generation as they are sometimes called) and where they are now 20 years later. I've read the first few profiles and enjoyed them, gives you a sense of the right social history here and the continuing legacy of that era. Here's the link to the first in that series, there are two more up on the main page.

Back in Korea: Hyundai stike, NHRC on Ha Joon Geun, Gwangju sues anti-FTA activists

I'm back from North America, and settling down to things: which means, of course, sifting through some of the news and documents that I've missed. This will take a little bit of time, but for today here are a few interesting tidbits.

1. The strike at Hyundai over Christmas bonuses is still creating news, the latest news is that talks may be underway soon between labour and management here. Something to watch out for is the use of damage claims to punish striking workers.

2. I missed the release, but the National Human Rights Commission denounced the policing of this summers POSCO strike and protests that lead to the death of Ha Joon Geun and the injury of many more workers. Here's an excerpt from their report:

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea acknowledged that riot police had used excessive violence to break up the demonstration on the day of Ha Joong Keun died and further it abused banning of notification to disburse the demonstrations. The Commission acknowledged that Ha Joong Keun died during the riot police’s forcible attempts to break up the demonstration. The Commission recommended that the Attorney General fully investigate into the death of Ha Joong Keun. It also called for disciplinary action against the Chief Commander at the time of the demonstration---Pohang Nambu Police Chief as well as issue a warning to the Head of the Seoul Regional SWAT Police due use of excessive repression against the demonstrators.

3. Finally the city of Gwangju took anti-FTA demonstrators to court and is seizing their personal property as a mean of retribution against protests against the FTA there in November.

Judge Seo Jeong-am, in charge of civil affairs in Gwangju District Court, said that the court accepted Gwangju City’s request that was filed against six protesters, including a trade union member of KIA Motors, to secure bonds when the city won the lawsuit against the protesters, who took to the streets on November 22, 2006.

The judge also said, “The court decided to issue a provisional attachment on 200 million won (200,000 US) worth of real estate as Gwangju City’s request was considered reasonable.”

Growing Inequality

Here's the link to an interesting article in the Korea Times on the expansion of irregular work and growing income inequality. It brings up some of the issues (industrial unionism, irregular work legislation, etc) that we've been posting on recently and connects them with larger issue of social inequality. Enjoy.

disgusting

Well, I'm still out of the country and away from speedy internet connections, but I'll have better access in a few days so I'll try to post more on some current issues.

Something that I've been meaning to do is to check to see what happened to some of the unionists arrested for protesting the labour bills that were passed on dec. 1st. Last time I checked, Hur Young Gu, (vice?) chairman of the KCTU, and founder of Speculative Capital Monitoring Center Korea (something like ATTAC) had been arrested. If anyone has an update please post it as a comment.

For now, however, I'll leave you with the following link to a story on punitive fines handed out to protesting teachers. Basically they were ordered to pay around 1000 dollars to each student and their parents. This sort of practice for dealing with strikes and protests (often called son hae bae sang) has been on the increase in recent years. Indeed, the monetary total of these fines is quite large compared to almost all other countries. Most of the time this just leads to more acrimonious strikes until the fine is rescinded or the union dissolves. At any rate, it is a practice that smacks of collective punishement to me, and is something that needs to be addressed.

Migrant Worker News Roundup

I'm going reprint the latest MWTV news as it really sums up some of the current issues going on in the migrant movement these days. MWTV always impresses me as they put out concise, up to date news in 7 or more languages every few weeks. Really keeps one up on what's going on here, for migrants at least. It is too bad there aren't similar sites for other organizations, but I guess this speaks partly to the dynamism of migrant organizations.

Welcome to Multilingual Migrant Worker News for this, the second week of December.

I'm Linda Kwon.

...
And now, our top story...

1.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamante, just finished his visit to Korea, December 4-11. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur met with interested parties from the government and civil organizations, as well as with representatives from the Migrant Worker Trade Union to discuss the current human rights situation for migrant workers in Korea, as well as government measures taken, including legislation, regarding migrant workers and their families.

On December 8th, the Special Rapporteur held an informal meeting with relevant organizations such as the MTU and the Joint Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea. During this meeting, he strongly criticized problems with the Employment Permit System and the infringement of migrant workers' human and labor rights. Jorge Bustamante also showed his concern about the situation of migrant women and their children, and human rights violation cases against these groups. The Special Rapporteur also investigated government policies regarding migrant workers, and a final recommendation will be submitted to the UN Security Council. On December 11th, Bustamante held a press conference before leaving for his next destination, Indonesia.


2.
On December 10th, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamane visited the MTU, and discussed various issues regarding migrant workers in Korean society. About 20 people including representatives from the UN, MTU president Anwar Hussein, and migrant workers participated in the meeting. During the meeting, the special rapporteur expressed his concern about the working conditions of undocumented migrant workers and the background of their decisions to come to Korea. He also listened to cases of human rights violations from the victims. MTU president, Anwar Hussein, emphasized that the international community such as the UN must endeavor to improve migrant workers' human and labor rights in Korean society. However, Mr. Bustamante responded that as the role of the special rapporteur is limited to collecting and reporting information about the situation of migrants to the UN, it is difficult for the UN to intervene in the domestic issues of the Korean government. An MTU member said that since any direct help from the UN special rapporteur is unlikely, migrant workers need to tackle their own problems from a longterm perspective.


3.
On December 7th, migrant-worker-related civil organizations including the Migrant Worker Trade Union held a press conference to announce they would file a suit against the Korean government regarding human rights violations which have occurred during immigration raids on migrant workers. In March of this year, a Bangladeshi migrant worker, 아니서, suffered a broken arm, dislocated shoulder and nerve damage after an assault by an officer at the Incheon Immigration Bureau. Despite four operations, his injured shoulder will likely never fully recover.

As this case shows, there has been no sign of improvement on violations of human rights by the Korean government, and immigration officers continue to abuse their authority in illegal crackdowns.

아니서 said, "I am not an animal but a human. The Immigration Bureau has not given me any answers yet even though they broke my arm. Moreover, the Korean government has not taken any action nor investigated the Immigration Bureau or the officer who abused me." He seeks damages and asked for the immigration officer to be appropriately punished.


4.
On November 30th, Korea's National Assembly passed a bill banning wage discrimination between regular and temporary Korean employees. Furthermore, any contract worker who has worked for more than two years will be guaranteed status as a regular employee. Although the Korean government believes that treatment toward temporary employees will improve through this new bill, labor organizations have a different view. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions strongly criticized the bill as bad legislation that would create a slave system for laborers due to the absence of the principle of 'equal labor, equal wage.'

--------------

5.
The 'International Migrants Day' event will be held at Seoul's Marronnier Park on Sunday, December 17th. The anniversary ceremony will begin at 3:00pm, and an arts and culture showcase titled 'A Beautiful Night with Migrant Workers' will take place at the student cafeteria of Seoul National University's Medical School starting at 5:00pm. The secretary general of the Migrant Worker Trade Union, Masum, has requested the active participation of migrant workers, their families, as well as Korean citizens in these events as one way to help protect migrant workers' human and labor rights.


6.
On December 18th, several events for migrant workers will be held across the nation to celebrate 'International Migrant Day', in conjunction with celebrations around the globe. On December 16th, a cultural event named 'Friends of Asia' will be hosted at Chungshin (충신) church in Ilsan. On December 17th, a public awareness campaign and photography exhibition by migrant workers will be held at Yeonsandong subway station in Busan. As part of the celebrations, also on the 17th, a Korean speaking contest will be held at the Korea Migrant Workers Human Rights Center in Incheon.
While there are estimated to be 400,000 migrant workers residing in Korea, a staggering 200 million migrants celebrate 'International Migrant Day' throughout the world.


In government news...

7.
Last week, the government introduced a new bill for legislation regarding migrant workers. The bill is tentatively being called the "Foreigner Treatment bill".

If this bill passes in the Parliament, it will aim to improve the living and working conditions of foreigners living in Korea, along with their families as well as political exiles already bearing official refugee status. This bill is also expected to improve the international reputation of Korea in terms labor and human rights.

But the government is anticipating wide criticism of the bill, considering the fact that the primary target group of this bill only extends to migrant workers with legal status, and leaves out the much larger group of undocumented migrant workers and political refugees without government recognized refugee status.


8.
On December 5th, 'The World Distribution of Household Wealth' was published by the United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). The authors note that income inequality is becoming a serious global issue. Among the richest 1% of individuals in the world, 37% reside in the United States and 27% in Japan. In other words, this means that more than half of the richest 1% of adults in the world reside in these two countries. This 1% also owns more than half of all global household wealth according to the institute's research. In contrast, the bottom 50% of the world's adult population own barely 1% of global wealth. In addition, the research shows that 2 out of the 100 richest individuals are Korean, and the Republic of Korea shares 1.11% of global wealth.


In international trade news....

9.
The US Korea Free Trade Agreement talks have hit a snag after the Korean government found bone fragments in a portion of a beef shipment from the United States. Although bone in beef shipments is a violation of import conditions between the two countries, the U.S government criticized the Korean government's decision to send back the shipments. Under the agreement, the U.S. is supposed to export only "boneless'' beef. U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under-Secretary Chuck Lambert raised concerns of a conspiracy theory that the bone fragments might have been planted.


In financial news...

10.
Despite strong intervention by the Korean government, the foreign exchange rate remains at about 920 Korean won to one U.S. dollar, a more than 10 percent decrease from the beginning of 2006. Migrant workers who transfer money to their home countries in US dollars are now paying a relatively lower commission for the service. However, the revaluation of the won stunned investors and traders from small-to-midsize businesses due to the rise in export costs. According to economists, the Korean won is forecast to remain strong against the US dollar.


In regional news...

11.
On the 7th of December, female migrants along with members from the migrant center and the YMCA gathered in Hongsung in Southern Chungchung Province to demand the discontinuation of street advertisements for Vietnamese brides. One of these banner advertisements was ripped up during the demonstration. Currently, there are around 150 migrant women who have come to live in the Hongsung area via international marriage arrangements.


12.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea sponsored an exhibtion entitled "Different but the Same" at the Gwanghwamun gallery of Sejong Cultural Center. The work on display all centers around the theme`s of human rights, and the works represent a variety of media including comics, photography, posters and film. The exhibition was held for two weeks and the final day of the exhibition is today, Tuesday the 12th. The exhibition will travel on to Pusan next, and next year it will make stops in Gwangju and Ilsan.


13.
On December 7th, the Ansan Support Center for Migrant Workers opened near Jungang Station. The center will be operated by the Ministry of Labor and will provide migrant workers with a comfortable space and various services. For more information, please call the number on your screen.


[CLOSING]

That's all for this, the second week edition of Multilingual Migrant Worker News for December.
You can watch rebroadcasts of the news on our web site at www.mwtv.or.kr or www.rtv.or.kr.

Thanks for being with us. Good night.

busy holidays

I'll be sporadically posting over the next few weeks as I'm going back to Canada for the break.

Of course the last few weeks have busy here with a crackdown against the KCTU for protests against labour law reform and the FTA. International migrants day is today also, and there was a rally of migrant workers here in Marrioner park which was well attended considering the cold weather. You can read about these events of course at the MWTV site and the labourstart newswire on the left hand sidebar. I'll also be posting periodically, hopefully, as an attempt to keep up with the news, but my parents only have dial-up, so no promises.

labour flexibilized

Here is a more in-depth look at the recent irregular workers bills that were passed by the national assembly on dec. 1st, from the ICEM website. As it mentions:

The new irregular workers’ law will, beginning in July 2007, allow employers with 300 workers or more to utilise contract or agency workers for up to two years before they must be made permanent. The same policy becomes effective in July 2008 for companies with 100 to 299 workers. For companies with fewer than 100 workers, the two-year period takes effect in September 2008.

“South Korea has effectively opened a revolving door for the use of contract and agency workers,” said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. “Employers can now use, abuse, and then discard contract workers within a two-year time period, which certainly will prove to be detrimental to sustainable and family-supporting full-time direct employment inside the country.”

This, in some way, concludes the process that I described last year, but, as always, the struggle goes on.

block traffic, go to jail

Here's an english breakdown of yesterday's protests from the big press. It's good numbers and places, but once again, is more concerned about the effect of protests on traffic than it is on about the issues. The part where the police promise to hunt down those responsible for blocking traffic is especially good reading. By the indication of the article they also plan to charge the Democratic Labour Party for allowing people to hold up signs against the FTA. Lovely logic there.

Translation of Seattle Han-Mi FTA protest video

Here's a link to a recently translated video on the Seattle protests against the Korea-US free trade agreement protests. Courtesy of Chamsesang.

Another wednesday, more buses, cops, and banned protests

Well, once again, police banned rallies against the FTA in Seoul. Here is a link to a story from the Korea times. Once again, all this is because of the rallies on the 22nd, which got pretty heated in the provinces (I just found this ohmynews photo album here). The National Human Rights Commission and other groups have asked the police to allow demonstrations.

As of 630 pm, it seems that around 10 have been arrested with about 700 taking part in civil disobediance (laying down on the road) outside of myoungdong. 2,500 - 5000 attended the protest at different times according to chamsesang news. As of 8pm, the rally had turned into to a candlight vigil in front of Myoungdong Cathedral. As of 1030, there had been some police charges on the protestors in Myoungdong. Here is the link to their article, with breaking news and pictures, in Korean. I hope my translation is correct.

Earlier this morning, around 11am, 8-12 activist gathered in front of the Seodaemun police headquarters to protest the banning of the protests. Here is a short, comedic video from Chamsesang news. Notice how the police temporarily attact the protest to steal one of their props, it then starts up again. Still the police to demonstrator ratio remains 20 to 1 or more. Don't they understand the concept of overkill?

Cinema Seoulidarity -- This Saturday

An interesting event this week in both English and Korean. See you there!

Friday's rally against labour bills

As reported below, the national assembly passed three bills on irregular work last week which were oppossed by both the KCTU and minor opposition party KDLP. There was a pretty heavy protest of the bill the following day, video from which you can see here. A union rally in front of the national assembly was met with a lot of police force, including water cannon in temperatures just below freezing.

(UPDATE: Dec 5th). Here's the link to a longer video on the protests, taken by a local video activist. The fighting looked pretty fierce. I noticed the police have been using this short distance gaseous substance, it seems to me that the use of this stuff has not been documented in the English press. There is suppossed to be a moratorium on the use of tear gas, but I wonder if this violates that. Similar gas was used at other big protests this year, notably the anti-fta protests in July and at other smaller events.

NHRC comes out on Pyeongtaek

The national human rights commission issued their statement on human rights violation in the areas surrounding pyeongtaek involved in the US base expansion. All the complaints though, are around issues of police questioning and harrassment, none deal with compensation schemes or excessive violence and demolition of housing. Here's the link.
You can also read Cindy Sheehan's reflections on her visit at Znet.

Irregular worker's bill passed

Seems the irregular worker's bill was passed today. I would love to see a translation of it, seems that it may expand irregular work significantly if it has not been changed much over the past year. More on this later...

Buses, Buses, Buses

Today's anti-FTA events were not as big as last week's. The government sealed the entire city hall park with riot buses, leaving groups with no place to rally. A few thousand gathered in front of Lotte department store down the street from city hall, and there were small confrontations between the police and demonstrations, mostly the throwing of some cabbages and a few police charges. The demonstrators eventually were moved into Myoung Dong near the Cathedral where a vigil was/is being held at time of writing.

Another reason why the protests were smaller than anticipated is because police were mobilized at toll stations on the highways around the country, making it nearly impossible for protest buses to get through on the highway. The picture above is from a redian story (in Korean). Yonhap news also reported that over 200 buses full of farmers were sent back at a number of toll booths. That's a pretty aggressive crackdown.

It's Wednesday, here we go again...

Today is the third wednesday of protest in as many weeks, with two more set to come. Here is a Korea Herald article on the continuing protests. Like most articles on the FTA it ignores the substantive issues surrounding the actual agreement on focuses on the threat of violence.

Wednesday's 'People's Uprising'

(Image from the Hankyoreh. Image Caption: President Roh Moo-hyun flies back to Korea, poring over plans for the "Roh Moo-hyun Memorial."On the ground below there are fires burning, namely "real estate," "unemployment," and "education." Near the destruction, you also see massive street protests. One is in opposition to a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. The other is a protest by part-time and contract workers calling for better legal protection.)

Wednesday's 'people's uprising' against the FTA, and its aftermath.

(Updated and re-edited: Sunday, November 26th)

Angry demonstrations spread across the Korean penninsula Wednesday as part of a large, broad-based campaign to oppose the current negotiations over the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement and the general state of labour relations and foreign policy on the penninsula. Although it is difficult to estimate the exact number of participants, it seems clear that around or over 100,000 participated. The groups organizing the day's events had promised that it would be a mini 'people's uprising'; while that term may be a bit exagerrated, one thing seems clear, the reaction from the government to the protests has been both reactive and punitive, with the result that public sentiment will most likely continue to boil on this issue until more conciliatory or progressive policies are implemented. What follows is an assessment of wednesday's event, its reaction, and some of the tensions that informed the turnout and which will continue to shape some of these social issues for the near future.

First off, it is hard to get an official number of participants as the police, unions, and media tend to give different estimates. But, based on these and other media accounts, lets say that there was roughly 100,000 workers on strike (gov. says 56,000, KCTU says over 150,000); in addition, police reported that 80,000 participated in rallies nationwide throughout the day, with some of the largest taking place in Seoul, Kwangju, and Taejon (where scuffles turned particularly bad), but also in smaller regions such as North Kyeongsang and Gangwon provinces where things protests were just as fierce. This number could probably be increased a bit if we take into account workers who participated in the walkout but did not join demonstrations. Also, police estimations tend to be a little conservative. Anyways, it seems that somewhere in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 people participated in the events. Though this may not be the 'people's uprising' that was promised, the turnout is very very significant compared to other anti-corporate/anti-capitalist globalization protests, especially in light of recent caimpaigns by other social movements here which have mobilized tens of thousands each month. In addition, on Saturday the conservative union federation, the FKTU, which did not participate in Wednesday's protests, had its own protest of 80,000 in downtown Seoul. By comparison, the 1999 Seattle protests against the WTO were more global in scope, had very little accompanying strikes, and still only brought out a similar number -- and with a long year of organizing ahead of time.

In the aftermath of Wednesday's protests, the government has banned all future protests by the coalition of 300 groups that organized them. In addition, it has declared that it will take action against the striking teachers who participated in the event by using their vacation to attend the protest, the government has summoned over 80 protest leaders and declared that arrest warrents will be issued for them if they do not voluntarily show up. These punitive measures in combination with the numerous amount of union organizers currently in jail speak to the breakdown of the government's involvement in labour relations, and, in fact, any contentious social issue that resonates strongly with civil society and social movements. This point is hammered home in a newly translated video released this week by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Labournet. The film documents the repression faced by female train attendants, civil servants, and construction workers trying to organize their own unions, in each case they met with overwhelming violence. Female workers are forcibly dragged from the station, construction workers are literally thrown off of cranes and beaten in the streets, civil servants are welded into their union offices. This is a shocking video to watch, and it makes one surprised that demonstrations are not all the more massive.

In spite of all this, organizers did vow to bring out a million people nationwide, and even by the most optimistic of accounts, these numbers failed to materialize. The following is an attempt to illustrate some of the tensions that may inform these struggles, and maybe provide some reasons why it has been difficult to get even more out on the streets. It should remembered, however, that in comparision to anti-corporate globalization movements elsewhere, Korean social movements are still quite far ahead of the game in their tendancy to mobilize thousands, repeatedly, and in the face of stiff repression. However, they face difficulty in consolidating the gains from this mobilization, and the following may provide some answers as to why, even though these issues only begin to scratch the tip of the iceberg.

1. Union density declining: Korea's unionization level is at 10 year low, making it harder to get people out on the street. Labour flexibilzation has proceeded apace since the 1997 crisis, and this is creating serious difficulties for the unions as these workers are sometimes harder to mobilize as they work longer, harder hours, and are quickly becoming disillusioned with labour politics. This is compounded with a rift between the two labour federations caused mainly by the conservative union federation's negotiation of tripartite agreement with the government and business without the consent or participation of the KCTU. This tripartite (or 2.5-ite) agreement included the suspension of union pluralism for three years, thus delaying union democracy in the workplace and protecting the FKTU from having to more effectivily work for its membership in order not to lose workers to the KCTU. Within the KCTU as well there is tension as to how to mobilize these workers and what the role of irregular workers and other precarious workers should be in the labour movement is creating some difficulties. One dissapointing fact about Wednesday' s protest, and the previous week's warning strike was the migrant labour labour issued did not seem to be addressed, given that migrant labour is partially mobilized within the KCTU, it was a shame that their issues were not given a more prominent position in the rallies.

2. Real Estate Meltdown: A huge distraction right now is the real estate bubble, a problem which the Uri government has admitted it can't solve, and which has many concerned. Even the central bank has stepped in on this issue late this week. However, in my opinion, the real-estate bubble is intimately connected to overall problem of neo-liberal restructuring in the Korean economy, especially the privatization of the banks and the selling-off of a number of them, either wholly or partially, to speculative capital -- something which is 'more neo-liberal than neo-liberalism' in that the regulations for owning banks have been more lax on regulation than in some of the anglo-american countries that neo-liberal policies are often modeled on. This policy explicitly favors foreign and speculative capital by limiting bank ownership by domestic corporations. This is compounded by a lack of investment in jobs and fixed assets, a problem which has created excess liquidity in the real estate sector because, in general, financial capital seeks out what the profitable, short term investment is, and in this case it is mortgage and consumer credit. There is a lot of speculation as to why things have turned out like this, with some pointing to a capital strike by domestic chaebol, while other have pointed predation by speculation foreign capital. Not only does the real estate bubble threatens to liquidate the savings of many, the developments that many have bought into have often favored the interests of developers over environmental and local residents concerns. In fact, this form of boosterism is often closely related to the way in which industrial development has often been pursued on the penninsula, outside of the regards of the people affected by it and who labour to make a living. In a sense, Wednesday's protests were not simply about who benefits from globalization and how, but about the way in which control has been forcibly wrestled from workers, residents, and the environment. As from some of the smaller, emergent activist groups who attented the protests, I'm sure how successfully the unions have dealt with presenting these issues of both production and consumption, of working and inhabiting, as such, but it seems there is room here for a broad social consensus.

3. The FTA versus 'neo-liberalism". Expanding on the last point, it seems that the FTA is only a moment in a larger process of neo-liberal restructuring. The nationalist inflection that some of the protests have had may, in the end, be an important catalyst in getting people to look at the wider issues, but it seems to me there are many examples of neoliberalism at home that also need to be addressed, the first is the restructuring of the financial system that I mentioned above, but there are many other sets of neoliberal policies that need to be considered. Continuing corporate governance restructuring in line with neo-liberal ideas about shareholder value certainly has consequences. That is not to say that the system should only benefit the chaebol instead but why not democratize the institutional structures that exist (a mixture of family-led conglomerates and an increased amount of foreign owned corporations) in a way that is conducive to many, and then figure out a way to increase investment in key sectors that will provide jobs, growth (and hopefully not environmentally destructive development), rather than re-modeling the market on an anglo-american model: indeed, corporate transparency may certainly minimize the back door influence of the domestic chaebol on politics, but stock-market capitalism is certainly not too reconcilable with economic democracy in the end. It's ironic, but it seems perhaps that a government that came to power from the democracy movement would be the one to improve the power of private capital.

4. Trade liberalization. Domestically focused forms of neoliberalism aside, bilateral trade agreements between South Korea and other countries, particularly the US but not limited to it as the South Korean government is now negotiating several agreements at the same time. At any rate, in terms of the Korea - US free trade agreement, the key issues here are are social security and agricultural production. Culture industries are important here too, but some of the problems they are facing are also stem from the financial restructuring outlined above. These are the core issues that are the real risks from the FTA. Farmers will lose big time, they simply can't compete with American agribusiness. The fact that the US got the Korean government to agree to keep certain drugs off their pricing system is also retrograde, and sets an eerie precedent for other bilateral trade agreements.

5. Expansion of irregular work and other forms of precarity. Neoliberal labour market restructuring is also huge issue here and it stems in part from the faulty financial restructuring in the sense that smaller firms have problems investing and keeping costs down, especially as the government has gotten out of industrial policy, and continues to do so even beyond the bounds, in some cases, of the countries it models its policies on. Thus, flexibilization here is perceived as a way to give industry a chance to save on costs, but it ends up benefiting the larger corporations and keeps the smaller ones in a race to the bottom. Actually, it should be mentioned that 'irregular' work, in the legal definition of the term is only one aspect of precarious employment relations. 'Irregular work' in the sense of lack of job security, democratic voice, and sketchy workplace standards has long been a feature of the Korean model and even persists today in many sectors. Note the myriad levels of subcontracting relations. You certain see this in the areas around Dongdaemun where small basement and attic sweatshops persist in the thousands, not just in the peace market area but north of the station as well. Many or most of them in the latter are owned by the women who work in them, so, in a sense they are not irregular workers, but their situations are often more precarious than the officially 'irregular' or contract workers we so often talk about.

Finding an appropriate tactic that can organize these workers, in addition to unionized workers as well as the myriad other subjects affected by neo-liberalism, or just plain capitalism, in South Korea seems quite an urgent chore at the moment. Especially if the large labour federations want the support of these people in the battle against the policies that effect them more directly such as labour repression and the labour relations roadmap.

6. Empire: or state making and war making in NE Asia. Not to sound obtuse, but the end of the cold war on the peninsula would certainly help in the sense of limiting the governments ability to continue conscripting young men to battle labour and social movements in the streets. There still is a militarization of protest policing on the peninsula which is a direct result of the survival of cold war militarism. Of course, there is also the influence of regional inter-state competition here as well, and this keeps tensions up, and thus provides an excuse for maintaining arms, but protest could probably progress much further if only the military presence (both foreign and domestic) here could be minimized. That way you wouldn't see military operations against elderly villagers in Daechuri (as happened last may to 'seal' the area to make way for base expansion) or ten thousand police in downtown Seoul every weekend in anticipation of the next protest.

Protests ongoing

The above is by no means conclusive, and there much more depth we can go into in terms of the many tensions informing the current forms of restructuring and the protests against them. Instead, it is better to conclude by stating that even in the midst of all these tensions, Wednesday's protests, while perhaps not a 'people's uprising' were still very significant, and, in some ways, an important example for other movements in the region. Not simply for the courage and determination of South Korea's social movements, but also for their resilence in the face of crackdown and repression. I think many hope that movements in the region and internationally will show the same level of resilence, and hopefully coordinate around many of these issues in the future. Now is certainly a time for solidarity, with the Seoul government banning future demonstrations by Korea's No to FTA coalition. Nonetheless, protests will continue with protests scheduled for this coming Wednesday and the next; with the government racheting up tensions, it seems that messy confrontations will also continue.

cindy sheehan visits pyeongtaek

I meant to post on this a few days ago. Anyways, at the moment Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink are in Korea. This visit comes at a good time as 37 lawmakers submit a resolution to get Korean troops out of Iraq and things turn worse near Pyeongtaek as Chairman Kim Ji-tae of daechuri was sentenced to 2 years in prison for organizing protests against the base expansion there. Besides visiting daechuri, Sheehan will be giving talks and attending today's Anti-FTA rally.

fta demo livecast

The Korean NOFTA site will have a livecast of today's (Wednesday) demonstration up on their page. I won't be at my computer while the demo is on, but if anyone sees it, please post a comment on how the livecast turned out.

multiple demonstrations tomorrow

Well, tomorrow is an omnibus day of protest, including most of the anti-FTA and labour relations roadmap issues we've been covering some time now. Here is a quick pre-protest story from the Korea Herald, and another from KOILAF. Seems that they are having trouble seeing how all these issues are connected; nonetheless, tomorrows events should, hopefully, create more popular cognitive connections between the struggle over decent working conditions, fair rather than free trade, and democracy in the workplace. Well, let's hope that message comes across.

And now for something completely different

I've been looking into the issue of property speculation a little recently for my own research, dealing in part with the growing expansion of financial capital here on the penninsula. As most people know, there is a speculative bubble in the real-estate market that is growing and growing right now, with the consequence that a lot of property appears to be over-valued, with some of those cookie cutter concrete apartments now reaching the price of some European castles. Actually, that is what this following story from the Korean times is all about: the type and location of European castle you could sell your apartment in order to buy, no joke.

The warning strike and after

Here is my post for interlocals on yesterday's warning strike.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a warning strike yesterday in protest of several pressing labour issues including: the negotiation of the Korea US Free Trade Agreement, the signing of a tripartite agreement without consent or participation of the KCTU, the expanse of irregular work and oppression against their organizations and the sorry state of workers accident insurance and workers compensation.

The Korea Herald reported that, in all, 57,000 workers joined the four hour strike, though the KCTU reported that substantially more participated. Several more thousand rallied in front of the National Assembly during the afternoon and then marched to the headquarters of the ruling Uri Party where a vigil was held into the evening.

Originally, Wednesday's event was supposed to be the beginning of an indefinite strike but that event has been delayed to November 22nd. This was partially as a response to media criticisms of the KCTU's choice of the 15th, as it is the day that national university entrance exams begin, but also the decision to delay the indefinite strike was also declared as a way to give the government time to respond to the four major criticisms the KCTU voiced yesterday before deciding on further action. If the indefinite strike begins on the 22nd, KCTU workers will be joined by lots of other protest groups, including farmers and student groups, who will making that day an omnibus event against the FTA. The nation's police are already up in arms about what could turn out to be one of the largest protest of the year, following large anti-FTA protest and heavy police response in July.

In addition to Wednesdays protest, there were also solidarity actions in Australia and in other cities world-wide. Finally, the KCTU recently put out a film about Korea's labour relations issues, 10 years after the OECD: trade union repression in Korea which you can watch over at the Christian's CINA blog.

walkout wednesday

As the KCTU walkout starts today, CINA has some stories on this protest and some others that are scheduled for the month.

MWTV news in English

I'm a big fan of Migrant Worker Television Korea, I think it is an excellent project that is really breaking down barriers and promoting migrant's issues. They have news in multiple languages which you can view on their broadcast on in text on their website. However, I've had problems for months opening their english news because of some bugs on their site. However, the problem seems fixed at the moment and, after some prodding by myself, they have started pasting it in text rather than attaching it as a pdf file (which I think was the cause of the problem). Anyways, I'll reprint below the migrant news from the last week of October. As you can read, there are some interesting developments in terms of policy, with the last few workers under the trainee system now being merged into the Employment Permit System, which is a mildly progressive step, but still one which does not address the overall contradictions of the EPS, or basically any form of guest worker policy which does not address the crisis of long term residents and the fact of immigration -- of which there is of yet no clear policy. I've written a bit about this issue before, back when the EPS was first being introduced, you can read it here, but keep in mind that numbers have doubled since then, and that crackdowns continue apace, though they range quite a bit in periods of severity.

Click 'view full posting' to read the latest MWTV news...
The weather's taken a sharp turn toward winter in the last couple days, so be sure to bundle up when you're heading outside.



Welcome to Multilingual Migrant Worker News for this, the fourth week of October.



I'm Linda Kwon.
Our top story tonight...
1.

With just two months left until the Industrial Trainee Program is abolished, the Korean government has announced that the organizations currently involved with the industrial training program will become involved with the Employment Permit System after the industrial training program is discontinued.


In the fourteen years of the Industrial Training Program's existance, migrant workers have become well acquainted with these affiliate organizations such as the Korean Federation of Small & Medium Businesses.

These agencies are renowned for taking illegal commissions for job placement services. In spite of this, the Korean government has decided to join hands with these organizations to become official partners in handling the Employment Permit System. Which indicates that the government does not have a specific plan to reform and improve policies for migrant workers.

Labor human rights organizations are protesting against the proposed system and began various protests including sit-ins and rallies on October 11. They stated that official agencies of the/handling the Employment Permit System should be formed as an independent organization, or appointed by the Human Resources Development Service of Korea which is currently responsible for the Employment Permit System.

2.

Migrant workers are still not being adequately protected under Korean labor law. According to the Ministry of Labor, about 81% of companies hiring migrant workers
violate wage agreements and other labor regulations such as physical harassment and overtime work.

Although about 1,270 labor violations were reported regarding migrant workers, only 510 cases have been settled. Among the reported cases, over 90% are about unpaid wages which total over 1.6 billion won.

Hyunggyu Maeng from the Grand National Party said that there must be many more migrant workers than have been reported who are suffering due to employer labor violations. He also asserted that the government should provide more effective and proactive solutions.

3.

According to the Ministry of Labor, last year 56 employers were reported for sexual harassment charges and 60% of the total cases happened in small & medium size companies. The primary victims of sexual harassment were women in their 20s who totaled 46% of the cases. While 75% of those facing harassment charges were men in their 40s.

4.

Keumsil Gang, former minister of labor and the current ambassador of women’s rights expressed grave concern about the issues of female migrant workers. She pointed out the seriousness of migrant women’s issues, especially the women who have come to Korea through international marriage. Gang is planning to visit Vietnam and the Philippines for detailed survey. She also announced that proper solutions for migrant women’s issue would be discussed through cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Gang was appointed to the post of women’s rights ambassador this past September.

5.

A high school teacher donated an apartment worth over 600 million won to a medical center for foreign workers. Last August, Sunhee Min, a teacher at Il-Sin girl’s commercial high school donated her apartment in Bundang to the medical center for foreign workers in Garibongdong in Seoul. Her husband passed away in 1993 with acute leukemia and he left the apartment. She said that her husband would be pleased to know that the money would be used for saving lives. Min had worked at a factory when she was young. She finished her college education as a part time student and obtained a teacher’s qualification. She has worked as a high school teacher for the last 26 years.

6.

There are no famous actors or world famous directors. However, the 1st Migrant Worker Film Festival has attracted the media's attention. The film festival kicked off in Pocheon on the 1st of October, and since then, has held screenings in Ansan, Seoul, and Daegu. A number of films made by migrant workers themselves were included among the 30 featured domestic and foreign films. These films show the current situation of migrant workers. The film festival has been touted by Korean media as a good opportunity for Korean society to better understand migrant workers and break down the wall of mutual distrust.
7.

On October 22, We Too Love Bucheon 2006 Multicultural Festival was held in Bucheon. Migrant workers from 12 countries including Nepal, Russia, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Bangladesh participated in this event. The festival kicked off with an parade of participating migrant workers. In addition, cultural performances of different countries, a quiz show, sport activities including a cricket tournament, and an exhibition of traditional cultures & food were prepared.

The highlight of the festival was an actual traditional Bangladeshi wedding ceremony between a couple from Bangladesh. There was also a concert featuring traditional music from Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, and Sri Lanka.

8.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize went to Dr. Muhammad Yunus along with the bank he founded, Grameen Bank for the simple, yet revolutionary, idea of lending tiny sums to poor people to start businesses, helping hundreds of millions of people earn their way out of poverty. Grameen Bank was founded in 1976 and the world has long recognized Yunus and his bank’s contributions to reducing poverty by providing ‘Micro-credit’ over the past three decades. On October 18, Yunus visited Seoul to receive the 2006 Seoul Peace Award. In spite of a tight schedule, he met with migrant workers from Bangladesh at the Shilla Hotel on October 19. In the meeting, Yunus asserted that migrant workers should work together to reduce poverty in Bangladesh. Participating migrant workers also discussed current problems they are facing here in Korea. After receiving the 2006 Seoul Peace Award, Professor Muhammad Yunus left for Bangladesh on October 20.

We have a couple announcements for you tonight...

1.

Starting next year, the Ministry of Labor has revised work safety laws to ensure faster reporting of industrial accidents. The revised regulation states that if a death or serious accident occurs at the workplace, it must be reported within 24 hours. In addition, the reporting process will also be improved so that there will be someone to receive calls at night and on weekends. The phone number to call to report any serious accidents at work is 1588-3088.

2.

The first annual Migrant Worker Film Festival "Films Without Borders, Moving Imagination" has been successfully touring various regions around the country and will continue to run until November 19.

The remaining dates are as follows:

October 29th, in Pusan at the Community Media Center as well as in Maseok at Shalom House.

Sunday, November 5 in two locations: Bucheon at the Migrant Worker House and in Uijeongbu Songuri - Songuri-dong Office.

And lastly, Sunday November 19 in Shiheung at the Jakun Jari Migrant Worker Center.

For more information, please visit the MWFF website at www.mwff.or.kr [or you can call 6366-0621].

[CLOSING]

That's all for this, the fourth week edition of Multilingual Migrant Worker News for October.

You can watch rebroadcasts of the news on our web site at www.mwtv.or.kr or www.rtv.or.kr.
Thanks for being with us. Good night.

Getting ready for Wednesday

I personally missed it (how dissapointed thy must be) but yesterday was the big rally, or Labour Assemby (but no march) downtown in anticipation of the KCTU's warning strike to take place on Wednesday -- which will include 4-hour walkouts or more at numerous workplaces. There has a been something of a back and forth between the Seoul authorities and the labour movement recently over permits for the march, which was originally denied for this event until the KCTU resubmitted a compromise saying that they wouldn't march but only meet. It seems that they stuck to this agreement as you can read from the two mainstream media stories I'll link to (here and here) on the event. It's pretty disappointing however that the media is more focused on the traffic planning than the substantive claims about worker's rights and their curtailment that the unions are raising. Especially in regards to the increased repression the labour movement has seen this year (Pohang irregular workers struggle and the KGEU crackdown being the two most publicized -- but also the recent crackdowns on migrant workers which have included the raiding of a local mosque last month). Wednesday strike, which is also an international day of action, is designed to foreground these struggles within the overall context of the Labour Relations Road Map which is being through without KCTU consent or participation.

Finally, I've included some pictures from the event (courtesy voice of the people). Note the aesthetics on the rally posters, kind of different for KCTU rallies, kind of reminds me of the british artists Gilbert and George, well with a more socialist edge -- interesting, nonetheless.

After the DLP visit

here is an a short article on the recent DLP visit to North Korea. I'm actually quite curious if these visits are building stronger horizontal connections between people in this party and North Korean counterparts. In general I think non-rigid forms of connections between the two would be good. But who knows what the interaction was like. The article is also interesting in that it mentions some of the factions (the old NL and PD split) within the DLP. Here is the LINK.

Missle test reaction in Korea and US

The topic many not be as fresh now, but Matt, gusts of popular feelings, in an interesting post on propanganda has some interesting things to say about the different receptions of the North Korea nuclear test here and in the states.

There has been a lot commentary on this issue over the last few weeks, and I'm not so interested in reviewing this material except to say that although the tests certainly registered amongst people here as a genuine concern, indeed as a renewed topic of political debate, the representation of the threat posed by tests to Korean society have not had the same frenzied amplification as they have elsewhere.

Below is an excerpt from matt's post showing an example of how the US press used the incident of a regularly scheduled civilian drill that happened just after the test to make it seem like the Korean population was paniked and in fear. I'll reprint the except from his post which includes some interesting visual material, as well as commentary.

From "gusts of popular feeling":

To see an example of said American tv news in action, you need only look here. In the video clip found there, from October 16, you can hear this commentary:

In one corner of the globe tonight it is a full scale crisis. North Korea has now proven to the world it is now a nuclear nation. For its neighbours, those in close missile rangle, that is bad news, as it is for the US government, who worry that it will become at kind of nuclear arms dealership dealing with all the wrong people. Tonight US intelligence has picked up fresh evidence they might be planning another test, on the very same day when we were able to confirm that the first test was indeed the real thing.

Today, South Korea was taking the threat seriously. In Seoul, 40 miles from the border, regularly scheduled air-raid drills today, people running for underground shelters. While in the north, Kim Jong-il's second in command told a military rally they would be victorious over the united states.

I guess MSNBC was just hoping no one would put any thought into what 'regularly scheduled' means. How can South Korea be 'taking the threat seriously' by having an air-raid drill when it's a regularly scheduled one? Ah, but no matter, all you need to do is show rapid-fire shots of people running into subways in order to make it seem very, y'know, crisis-like. Follow that by North Korea saying it will defeat the US, and everybody is off to Walmart to buy duct tape.

Fox News was kind enough to also provide a video clip of their story about the civil defense drill here. I include it because, unlike NBC, you can take screen shots:



We are told, "This entire city of ten million shut down, there is no traffic on the streets, there are no people on the streets." Strange. By my place traffic continued as usual. Of course, this reporter is not exactly being truthful. There are several people in the streets, including himself in his cameraman. Look behind the man in yellow in the first picture, and you'll see some photographers with a tripod. It seems the media weren't required to seek shelter; they were too busy trying to scare the hell out of people living elsewhere in the world.

And people ask me why I don't watch TV.

These 'news' clips are basically telling Americans that it's a full scale CRISIS, NORTH KOREA WILL DEFEAT US, seoulites are RUNNING for the subways (which is utterly uncommon here) - first we confirm the FIRST TEST was the REAL THING, a genuine NUCLEAR BOMB, and now there are TWO BONGOS, A SCOOTER, AND A HALF DOZEN SOLDIERS near the TEST SITE - ANOTHER TEST could occur in OUR SLEEP! aaaAAAAEEEEIIIIIIEEEEEEAAAAAGHHHHHHH!!! Run! Run to the mall! Max out your credit cards!! (Brought to you by American Express)

Of course, when North Korea does this, its called propaganda.

Critical Constellations -- Interlocals

I've recently become involved with a few other projects that I thought I would promote on this site. One is the Hong Kong based site, interlocals.net, a site which is attempting to connect english/non-english news on grassroots and inter-local issues in the region through original dialogues, stories and translations. It's only been up for a few months but is expanding quickly.

The other site is a blog for the institute for the study of democracy and social movements here in Seoul (where I am a visiting researcher), so far it is oriented towards promoting and circulation some of the wealth of english material produced each year by Korean academics and other intellectuals engaged with critical social movement issues. Unlike Interlocals, we're off to a slow start, but a start nonetheless, so please check us out. I've tentatively called the project critical constellations, as a mock-up description of what, to an extent, social movements are, constellations of multiple actors and expressions organized in often fluid networks, all striving to identify and inflect important social issues in a critical manner.

Enjoy.

November 15: International Solidarity

Here's the link to a call for a day of international solidarity with Korean workers organized by the Building and Wood Worker's International. This event in particular focuses on the struggles of Korean construction workers, whose union comprises both regular and irregular workers, who have faced a intense summer of harrassment and arrest, especially after the strike in Pohang in August which was covered here (you can search our August archives for more). This was also the strike in which Ha Joong Gun died from injuries inflicted by the riot police. Seems that there will be protests and pickets in front of Korean embassies world wide.

(Metal) shield to the head

FTA Protest Continue

Here's the link to a report from the Hankyoreh about the continuing protests against the FTA. Seems twelve protestors were injured yesterday. The TV news showed some protestors being hit in the head with metal shields. Seems to be the tactic of choice for Korean riot police, a tactic which has claimed three lives in the last year. We wrote about this last August, so it goes.

Sunshine and Rain

There was a isolated wind and rain storm today, in Kangwondo, Korea, a province that stretches both sides of the border and is home to two of the most scenic mountain parks in North and South: Kumgang (diamond) and Sorak (snowy crag) mountains. Coincidently, it is the Kumgang mountain tours to North Korea that the US asked the South to discontinue during Condoleeza Rice' s recent trip. Since the test the sunshine policy of Kim Dae Jung and successive regimes has come under fire a bit, and in something of a straw man type manner, I should add. In response, however, Kim Dae Jung has been out defending his policy (in many ways, the problem was not too much but too little sunshine, in my opinion). Here's a story on that from the Hankyoreh.

It was sunny down south in Jeju today, where the fourth round of Korea-US FTA talks are beginning. From this evenings television news here, it seems that 15-20 000 where out protesting, and at least several dozen tried to make it to the resort site where the conference is being held in order to protest. To do so the attempted to swim across a lagoon there, in repeat of the farmer protest in Hong Kong against the WTO last year, when 300+ Korean farmers braved the december water to make their point. I've seen no account of the swim in English as of yet but here is a quick story on the protests from monstersandcritics, and a more in depth look from the Hankyoreh.

Migrant Workers Film Festival

I should have posted on this sooner, but MWTV and other groups have a sponsored a travelling film festival this month, the MWFF. I just went to one of the Seoul nights this week, but there are still nights in Bucheon and other cities around the country this month. There is an interesting range of films here about migrant workers, and not solely in Korea but in other countries around the pacific, from Taiwan, to Canada and Malaysia. Check out their program (in english and other languages) at their website (http://www.mwff.or.kr/).

Conflict Escalating

Here's my backgrounder on what's been going with the KGEU, feel free to use it for progressive purposes... Should be up over at interlocals later today.

Labour conflict escalating in South Korea
J.Doucette

Following an ILO regional meeting in Busan, South Korea, labour relations have soured in that country over the month of September with a large government offensive against the 140,000 member Korean Government Employee’s Union, and a back door agreement with a government-friendly union selectively advancing segments of the government’s labour reform roadmap which many fear will pave the way for further expansion of irregular work on the peninsula.

Offensive against the KGEU

Over the last month the Korean government has waged an aggressive crackdown against the Korean Government Employee's Union (KGEU), forcibly closing down 121 of 251 KGEU chapter offices nationwide -- literally welding them shut with metal bars and iron plating -- and arresting, as of October 10th, over 100 members of the KGEU and other organizations in solidarity with them.

The origins of this struggle are related to the slow consolidation of public sector labour unions in the post-dictatorship era. Korea has been under continuing pressure from local and international organizations to recognize its public sector trade unions. Though many of these unions have existed for some time, the Korean government has been taking the slow road to legally recognizing them. The Korean Teacher's Union was only recognized in 1999, and there is a large ‘public servants’ union (employee's in sectors such as railroads and transportation), but the government has still to recognize Korea's large government employee's union (KGEU), which has been underground for quite sometime.

In many ways, the cause of this crisis is a constitutional matter. As Article 33 of the Korean constitution states:

Article 33 [Unions]

(1) To enhance working conditions, workers have the right to independent association, collective bargaining, and collective action.
(2) Only those public officials who are designated by law, have the right to association, collective bargaining, and collective action.
(3) The right to collective action of workers employed by important defense industries may be either restricted or denied under the conditions as prescribed by law.

As the KGEU cannot ‘legally’ exercise these rights without legal recognition, the Korean government have refused to recognize them until the union agrees to certain limitations on their rights: basically giving up the right to strike and dis-allowing what it terms ‘higher’ public officials (basically half of the KGEU’s 140,000 members) from joining the union. The union refused to agree, in principle, with the limitation of the three basic labour rights as recognized in the Korean constitution. Which seems reasonable, as the government’s offer here is on constitutionally shaky grounds. Nonetheless, the Korean governments’ response to the union in its short history have been severe.

Since it was founded in 2002, almost all KGEU public meetings, assemblies, workshops, or press conferences have become sites of police violence and, frankly, unbelievable resistance, with union members, at times, literally keeping the riot police at bay while carrying out important votes. Nonetheless, the KGEU has organized strikes and weathered the persecution, even growing in size. For its part, the Korean government has slowly ratcheted up the pressure, declaring a special law on the rights of government employees forbidding them from bargaining and taking collective action, including penal provisions for those who disobey. The law, passed in 2002, included a grace period which ended in 2006. Since then the oppression has only escalated.

Staff elections of the KGEU were blockaded in January of this year, and in February ministers from the Ministries of Justice, Government and Home Affairs, and Labour issued a joint statement and countermeasures against the KGEU which was followed in March with instructions for the voluntary withdrawal of all union members and notification of all cases of non-compliance so that legal action may be taken. Between March and September the government kept up its pressure by forcing local governments to report on the actions of KGEU members and submit the names of members involved actions.

In September, at an ILO regional meeting in Busan, South Korea, the ILO criticized the Korean government for denying public servants their basic labour rights, and delegates further denounced the intervention into the matter by the Ministry of Government and Home and Affairs and Minissty of Justice, saying that these ministries have no right to intervene in labour conflict and that collective agreements must be made by bargaining between the union and employer’s, not third parties. Nonetheless, the current crackdown against the KGEU began just days after the ILO Busan conference ended, which is ironic mostly because the Korean government had hosted the conference to showcase improvements to labour relations in the country.

Labour relations worsening

What this says about the overall conditions of labour rights and democracy on the Korean peninsula is not encouraging. September’s crackdown against the KGEU was accompanied by the signing of tripartite agreement between the government friendly (or state-corporatist) union, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKTU), business, and government. The agreement, signed without the consent or participation of the larger Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) delays important clauses on union pluralism and paves the way for expanded irregularization of employment. This makes a mockery not only of the concept of tripartite negotiation between labour, management, and government endorsed by the ILO – 2.5-ism may be a better term to describe its current Korean embodiment – it also sets a dangerous precedent for distinctively anti-democratic labour relations to come, and has thus been criticized by a wide segment of Korean civil society, including legal and constitutional experts.

The KCTU, meanwhile, has promised more strikes and industrial action against the roadmap bill and ongoing union repression in November.

2006 Copyleft

Pyeongtaek, KGEU

Looking back at some of the events from the last month here is a good collection of stories and pics on the raids against the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU) from CINA. Kotaji also has some comments and the draft of letter of solidary from a meeting of European social movements recently gathered in Brussels.


Days in Daechuri also has its own article on the large rally against the removal of villagers in Pyeontaek that took place in front of city hall on Sept 24. They also have links to other stories on the rally as well as pics.

back at it: KGEU, Labour Roadmap, Posco workers sued

My apologies to avid readers for the lack of posts over the last month. I'm back at it now and will be ramping up the posts in the coming weeks. In case you haven't heard or read about them, there are a few big stories from the past month that need some coverage.



Attacks on the KGEU

The first is the government offensive against the Korean Government Employee's Union, a union of civil servants that doesn't agree with the limitations on their labour rights that the government is forcing them to accept in order to have legal recognition. Thus, this union is 'illegal' for the time being and is now undergoing some severe repression. It's important to mention here that it is not just the KGEU that doesn't agree with these limitations but members of the ILO as well, who have criticized the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs for their intervention in labour relations in such a way. Here's the most recent press release from the union, along with a chronology of this month's attacks on KGEU offices everywhere, attacks which are continuing. The KGEU has 140 offices nationwide, over 81 have been shut down as of Sept 23. You can also find the online campaign on the KGEU site.

Labour Relations Road Map

The other major story, and one that has flown slightly under the radar, is the tentative tripartite (really 2.5-ite) agreement between the FKTU, Business, and Government, on the labour relations road map. Basically, they have agreed to postpone the two contentious issues (trade union pluralism, and pay for full-time labour organizers) for three years -- basically this is a setback for union democracy within and between workplaces. This also means that other aspects of the bill may move forward quite quick: expansion of irregular work, etc., without full trade union participation. The FKTU has also begun campaigning for foreign investment by advertising the agreement it strung together with business and government withouth any consent or participation for the larger KCTU. 2 and half-ism seems to have replaced tripartitism, indeed. If some of the other elements of the roadmap are passed, it seems that we will be seeing more and more illegal strikes as the venues for legal trade unionism is made smaller and smaller and people struggle to protect themselves. So far the governements reaction to this has been punitive. For example, it seems that the irregular workers who struck at POSCO in August are being sued for 1.7 million (US), a move which can only lead to more violence if this money is garnished from workers private savings as it has in the past.

The KCTU is promising strikes against the legislation in November, we'll keep you posted...