Follow-up to 'Death of a Farmer'

In the 'Birthday' post, the article about Jeon Yong-cheol's death was brought up, which reminded me that I'd found a number of articles that followed up on the deaths of the farmers, but hadn't gotten around to posting them. I decided to add them to the original post as updates, but thought I'd post them here as well. After the blame was put on the police for the deaths of two farmers due to injuries received in the Nov. 15 protest, the police chief was forced to resign and the police pressured to change how they acted. This led to protests by supporters of the police (and in the media) who blamed protesters for the violence. A government panel to promote peaceful protests was formed, and an anti-base protest which was carried on peacefully with restraint on both sides was lauded as, perhaps, the beginning of a new era. Though I'm not entirely certain it will last, it would seem the accusations and blame hurled at Korean protesters and riot police over the past few months may have led both sides to reflect upon their tactics.

Here's a timeline, from where the Jeon Yong-cheol article left off:

Dec. 16: The police finally admit the possibility that Jeon Yong-cheol died as the result of being hit by riot police at a farmers' protest.

Dec. 18: Hong Deok-pyo, a farmer injured during the November 15 Yeouido protest, dies of his injuries.

Dec. 26: The National Human Rights Commission concludes that Jeon Yong-cheol and Hong Deok-pyo died from injuries inflicted by riot police during the Nov. 15 rally.

Dec. 27: President Roh apologizes on television for the actions of the police, but also criticizes the violent actions of the protesters. Police Chief Huh Joon-young also apologizes, but refuses to voluntarily step down.

Dec. 28: Police Chief Huh is pressed to resign by members of Uri party and the DLP.

Dec. 29: Despite saying he would not, Police Chief Huh resigns, saying he did not want to "burden the administration".

Jan. 7 & 8: Families of riot police hold protests against violent protests.

January 15: A plan to have riot police wear name tags while on duty is announced by the National Police Agency. It draws a great deal of criticism before being withdrawn.

Jan. 19: A government panel is formed to promote peaceful rallies, saying a policy package is due in April.

Feb 12: A protest in Pyeongtaek against the relocation of US bases there is celebrated for being non-violent.

struggle against casualization and privatization not over yet

Some interesting developments in the struggle against the non-regular workers bill and other forms of Korean neoliberalism to report. Korean rail workers are on the second day of their strike in support of fired workers, pay equity and against privatization as part of a larger series of actions against the upcoming bill on the protection of non-regular workers (which is actually a bill to expand irregular work, according to most). Labour protests continue to delay the bill. Apparently members of the DLP have occupied a meeting room in the parliament building, and according to Kotaji, even some conservative politicians are having second thoughts. Meanwhile, workers have mounted a sit-in in front of the National Assembly as part of the KCTU's general strike against the bill.

More on this issue in the coming days...

Story on NK Industrial Zone in the NY Times

Heads up to NoCHR for alerting us to this story. For more analysis see our post, Zonal Strategies, below.

For managers, a Korean paradise
By James Brooke The New York Times

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2006
KAESONG, North Korea In a cavernous factory floor here, where hundreds of North Korean women diligently cut and sewed women's jackets Monday, a South Korean businessman seemed to have found Korea's answer to China: wages at 26 cents an hour.

"Kaesong has more advantages that Vietnam, China or Guatemala," Hwang Woo Seung, president of Shinwon Ebenezer Company, said, citing other countries where his company produces clothes. "We opened here last March and we are already starting to build another factory here twice the size of this one."

If the leaders of the two Koreas have their way, Hwang's factory, with its 326 North Korean workers and seven South Korean managers, will represent the economic future of the peninsula.

"Kaesong Industrial Park, a place where the South's capital and technology and the North's land and labor are being combined to a make a new prosperity," an American-accented voice announced on a peppy information video shown to the first group of foreign reporters to tour the site, only several hundred meters north of the demilitarized zone.

Almost four years after the initial agreement for the park, the legal and infrastructure building blocks finally seem to be in place for explosive growth. Over the next year, the number of South Korean factories and North Korean workers is to nearly quadruple, to 39 factories and 15,000 employees.

By 2012, the industrial park is to spread over 67 square kilometers, or 26 square miles, and to employ 730,000 North Koreans, almost 8 percent of the work force in this impoverished nation, which has a total population of 23 million.

Last month, a South Korean telephone company opened the first 340 of 10,000 planned lines to here. Next month, work is to start on a tenfold increase in the power supplied by South Korea, to 154,000 kilowatts. Last fall, to iron out bureaucratic difficulties for South Korean and other foreign investors, South Korea opened its first government office in the North here.

When 50-year leases for building lots were auctioned off last summer, there were, on average, four South Korean companies vying for each plot. With labor costs rising in South Korea, many owners of small and medium-sized factories, say they face two options: closing and moving to China, or closing and moving to Kaesong.

"We have plans to build a factory here four times the size of this complex," Oh Sung Chang, senior managing director of Taesung Hata Company, a manufacturer of packaging for cosmetics, said after walking reporters past plastic molding and cutting machines manned by North Korean workers. Noting that he plans to start construction this summer, he added: "The Northern side has been very cooperative."

The North, after initial reluctance, has thrown its weight behind the isolated nation's largest center of foreign investment.

"We will bring peace and prosperity to the Korean Peninsula through the Kaesong Industrial Complex," Kim Hyo Jeong, a North Korean official serving on the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee, told reporters Monday.

According to North Korean propaganda, the North is a worker's paradise. But after 60 years of communism and Kim family dynastic rule, the North looks like a manager's paradise.

Not only are the wages the lowest in Northeast Asia, but independent labor unions are banned.

"Strikes?" Hwang replied dismissively in response to a reporter's question. Raising crossed arms, he said with a slight smile: "Absolutely not."

"North Korean workers are very skilled, and that is why we decided to move here," Moon Chang Seop, president of Sam Duk Starfield, a Pusan- based shoe manufacturer. Noting that shoe manufacturing "is getting small" in South Korea, he said he hoped to one day move his entire line to Kaesong.

For now, Kaesong's 11 factories are producing almost entirely for the South Korean market.

To grow as planned, the park will have to win access to world markets. With North Korea's nuclear weapons program provoking opposition in Japan, Europe and the United States, the threat of commercial sanctions against North Korean products hangs over any investment. At the same time, South Korea hopes that products made here will be eligible to enter the United States under any free-trade pact that may be negotiated with the United States. (read more...)

After free-trade talks were announced last month, U.S. officials discouraged the idea of duty access for products made in this part of North Korea.

"In our view, the agreement applies to goods produced only in South Korea and the United States," an U.S. Embassy official in Seoul told reporters. "We hope that the Kaesong issue won't be a major hurdle in reaching the comprehensive goal of signing the free-trade agreement."

In the United States, American labor and human rights activists may object to employment conditions here.
At Kaesong, the minimum wage for the 48-hour week is $57.50. But $7.50 is deducted for "social charges" paid to the North Korean government. The remaining $50 is paid to a North Korean government labor broker. None of the South Korean factory managers interviewed would guess how much of the $50 salary ends up in the pockets of workers.

"The exact amount is determined by North Korean authorities," said Kim Dong Keun, a South Korean who chairs the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee.

Under labor contracting arrangements in Russia and Eastern Europe, North Korea's government often withholds half of their workers' salaries.

Attempts to interview seamstresses at the Shinwon, factory elicited evasive responses and intervention by South Korean guides.

"No interviews with North Korean officials or employees are allowed," Mira Sun, the foreign press aide to South Korea's president, Roh Moo Hyun, lectured reporters by loudspeaker in one bus after reporters tried to interview seamstresses.

Alternatives for North Korean workers appears to be bleak.

Although the two Koreas speak the same language and share the same history up until 1945, 60 decades of communism has created, in economic terms, a Bangladesh living alongside a Belgium.

Beyond the shiny new factories and busy construction sites of the industrial park, visitors peering beyond a 5-mile long green wire perimeter fence could glimpse a tableaux reminiscent of Breughel paintings of pre-Industrial Europe. In one field, about 20 people were bent over their hoes. An ox cart creaked down a lane carrying winter feed, while a man with a load of brush on his back trudged down a path.

Zonal strategies

I'm going to reprint a short article on some efforts to expand the joint industrial zone between north and south Korea. Seems there is a lot of bipartisan unity on this issue. As Kotaji remarked in a comment to an earlier post, the prospect of economically integrating North Korea could be a boom for South Korean capital. In a climate where they no longer benefit from strategic finance they recieved during the past, the Chaebol are definitely pushing to have their obligations to workers restructured so as to save more on labour. However, Korean social movements have resisted this tendancy for the last 7 years, after witnessing what concessions on labour restructuring can bring in the wake of the 1997 crisis. Hence, over the last year we've seen several serious struggles not simply over the attempt to introduce national legislation expanding irregular work, but also policies like rice liberalisation which promise to expand the supply of workers migrating to the cities. Why not bypass these problems by creating special zones to harness the power of, potentially, a considerably more docile and politically repressed supply? I'm still not sure what the future may bring. It will depend on a number of factors such as the 6-party talks, NK's own strategy, the SK labour and student movement among others. At any rate, it seems for the moment SK wants to expand these zones (to 600,000 workers), the US aren't keen on the subject, and labour has so far been quiet (from what I can gander from the English press).

From the Korea Times:

Bill on Inter-Korean SEZ Pushed
By Lee Jin-wooStaff Reporter
Feb 13 2006

A group of 100 ruling and opposition party lawmakers Monday submitted a bill aimed at setting up an inter-Korean special economic zone near the heavily fortified border bisecting the two Koreas.

``The bill is based on a long-term strategy to construct a joint economic community which will mutually benefit both South and North Korea,’’ said Rep. Yim Tae-hee of the largest opposition Grand National Party (GNP).
Yim said, ``Invaluable lessons we learned from trials and errors of the Kaesong industrial complex in the North will surely help us carry out the plan successfully and further promote inter-Korean relations.’’

The lawmakers who signed the bill include 16 legislators from the ruling Uri Party, 76 from the GNP and 4 from the minor opposition Democratic Party (DP).

As an initial, short-term step, the bill aims to establish the envisioned industrial zone, which is similar to the Kaesong complex, in Paju, Kyonggi Province, located near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Yim said in a press release.

In the bill, the lawmakers also proposed to jointly expand the boundary of the economic cooperative area from the port city of Haeju in South Hwanghae Province, North Korea, to Inchon, west of Seoul.

They called for the establishment of a government agency to encourage certain industries, including tourism and information-technology, and environmentally friendly businesses with various benefits in the designated area.
The lawmakers said they target to complete the legislation of the bill in the first half of this year.

The bill said the establishment of the economic zone will help ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and provide a chance for North Korea to learn about the market economy.

It's our birthday (sort of)

On February 23rd this blog turned one year old. I was too busy to post anything that day so this is really a belated birthday post. It's been a good year, and I'd say that we've been relatively successful in that we've managed to post, on average, more than once a week for the last year. Besides putting up many smaller posts on current events involving Korean social movements, we also managed to contribute a number of unique commentaries of our own that have either been prepared for print or were original posts that recieved wider circulation. Often, the events that we have covered in these stories have been ongoing and you can see their development through other stories in the archives.

Here's a sample of some of the stories that I think are our best work. If you are a new reader to this blog than these stories will give you a sense of some of the issues that we've covered, and if you are a returning reader, we'll here's a reminder of where we've been and, hopefully, where we'll continue to go in the future.

Our story on the struggle over the expansion of irregular work, Against Flexibilization, was our most thorough exploration of the proliferation of non-regular work in South Korea and the fight against it -- a fight that continues to this day as the National Assembly is still trying to introduce the legislation. This story has definitely gotten the most attention on this blog as it continues to unfold. Likewise, an overview on the migrant workers struggle, the new minjung, also dealt with this topic in the sense that the expanding use of foreign migrant labour is a form of labour restructuring in itself and migrants groups, such as the MTU, continue to struggle for rights and equality in South Korea.

Matt, our other contributor, has put up some great posts as well. His posts on conscientious objectors in South Korea got a lot of attention and he is planning some important updates on this story in the future. His story North Korea's attempts to control the spread of information is also indicative of his good work. In the aftermath of the APEC and rice liberalization protests (two interrelated issues), Matt was quick to write about the public reaction to the death of Jeon Yong Cheol during a scuffle with police. Kotaji and I also tried to weigh in on the topic with a story in Japan Focus about some of the points of focus of the APEC protests and the protests that were about to follow in Hong Kong.

Well, those are my picks for some birthday reading. Hopefully we'll have lots more for you next year. Thanks for reading!

Here we go again

I really haven't been posting much lately. There are some pros and some cons to this. The con is that I haven't been keeping our loyal readers up to date on some recent developments, the pro is that I've been working hard planning my own research (yes I do have a life beyond this blog) which will, in the long run, supply you with more analysis of Korean labour and social movements than the more news oriented posts I put up lately.

In case you haven't noticed, however, the KCTU has called for another general strike against the bill on temporary workers. In fact I think every story on our labourstart newsire at the moment is on this topic. We've covered this issue perhaps more than any other on this blog -- just pick an archive and you'll see this for yourself so I'm not going to link to our previous posts. However, here's a short article from the Korea Herald with some general info on the strike and why the KCTU thinks the legislation is unfair. Ironically, some employers are also against the law they think it is too pro labour and have proposed a strike of their own. Strange bedfellows, it seems.

Also, thursday will be this blog's one year anniversary so I'll try to put up a birthday post in the future. Also look forward to an upcoming post on conscientious objectors from Matt (yes there is more to this blog than labour issues).

Chinese Unions, Protesting Stars, and New Writing on North Korea

A bit of a miscellaneous posting today.

First, here's an interesting article in yesterday's Choson Ilbo about pressure from the All China Federation of Trade Unions for a collective bargaining agreement at Hyundai's China operation. Very interesting indeed. I'm really not sure what this spells out for the future of working class organization in China, but it is very signficant because it seems that something is indeed going on in regards to skilled labour there. There is indeed a level of repression against popular protest in China, but if it is to deserve the developmental state label which it has lately been garnering, the existence of collective bargaining structure would run against our conventional understanding of labour as demobilized within that model. Could the ACFTU be heading down a social corporatist path? It's too early to tell. I'm also curious what this means for workers in India, where Hyundai motors is expected to roll out its millionth car this month. The threat of more docile labour to be found in China may be running out.

Today's second item is a story from Labourstart Korea's newsire and is on Korean movie stars and filmakers protesting South Korea's plans to abolish its screen quota as part of their bilateral free trade agreement with the United States. On Monday, South Korea's top movie star, Jang Dong-gun, held a one-man protest at the Gwanghwamun intersection in downtown Seoul. Choi Min-shik, another well-known film star and my personal favorite, held his own protest there on Tuesday, returning a government medal he had recieved for his work.



Finally, Kotaji has a link to an article in this month's ISJ about some recent writing on NK by the Korean internationalist left, and written by Kotaji himself. Should be a good read, I can't wait to get to it myself.

Reunification: maybe?

Below I'm reprinting some recent testimony to the US congress from Christine Ahn, of the US based Oakland Institute, on Korean reunification. I'm not exactly sure which committee she was testifying to or its significance, but it think it provides a nice general overview as well as personal and anecdotal account of some of the changing moods in South Korea toward the North, though it might perhaps read a bit rosier than others might have put it, glossing over some of the current complexities of political power on both ends the pennisula. Click 'view full posting' to read the article.

Good Morning America, Korea is Reunifying
by Christine Ahn
January 31, 2006

On my recent trip to South Korea last November, I was struck by how much reunification was in the air. I first got this impression as I waited at customs at Incheon International Airport. Looming above me were large flat screen TVs beaming a Samsung cell phone commercial with two of Korea’s most popular female stars, South Korea’s pop icon Lee Hyo-Ri and North Korean dancer Jo Myung-Ae. In the commercial, the two superstars sing a song about parted lovers, and the lyrics go something like, “Someday we will meet again, although no one knows where we’re going, someday we will meet again, in this very image of us separated.” As they hold hands during the concert, the new blue One Korea peninsula flag rolls down behind them. As they turn to watch the flag, Lee Hyo-Ri’s voice says in the background, “That day I was so nervous…because the story wasn’t just about the two of us.”

Here was Samsung, one of Korea’s most powerful corporations, popularizing reunification. But the South Korean government was also sending a clear message to all foreigners landing on Korean soil: reunification is happening, slowly, but surely.

When I told my young South Korean friend how emotional I felt as a Korean-American watching that commercial, he said that even before it was broadcast, Koreans were talking about it all over the internet. He also told me that nearly all blockbuster films in South Korea are about the Korean War, North Korea or reunification, and that North Korean characters are now humanized, compared with a few years ago when they only appeared as villains. One such film, Taegukki, a revisionist historical film about the war, still holds the number one spot in ticket sales. Eleven out of 50 million South Koreans, or 1 in 5, have seen Taeguki. Reunification is happening, my friend said, and no one—not even the election of a conservative South Korean president—will be able to turn the tide.

Another major cultural icon, Cho Yong Pil, considered the most popular singer for the past 25 years has also helped influence popular perceptions about North Korea. Several years ago, I asked him what he thought about reunification, and he told me it could not be achieved until the elders passed due to the deep pain they still harbored from the Korean War. To my surprise, last August, he performed a concert in Pyongyang. Many South Koreans told me this was huge, more than a South Korean president visiting North Korea, because he is so beloved by every Korean irrespective of age, class, religion, or ideology.

Public Opinion Polls

Although these may seem like random examples, they actually correspond with recent public opinion polls taken in South Korea. The Korea Institute for National Unification, or KINU, a national research policy institute, recently conducted a public opinion poll of 1000 South Koreans citizens and 300 leaders from political, media and civil organizations. It found that 84 percent of the public and 96 percent of opinion leaders believed that unification was an urgent task for the nation, and 85 percent of the general public and 95 percent of opinion leaders approved of North-South economic cooperation.

Political, Cultural, Economic Exchanges

Although complete reunification may still be a distant dream, Koreans from the North and South are taking measured steps towards realizing it. On June 17, the South Korean Minister of Unification met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and urged North Korea to return to the six-way talks. In return, South Korea promised to give North Korea two million kilowatts of electricity, the amount that would have been generated by the two light water reactors promised by the United States under the 1994 Agreed Framework.

For the five-year anniversary of the June 15 declaration, hundreds of Koreans from around the world convened in North Korea to celebrate the achievements made towards reunification. And on August 15th, on the 60th anniversary of liberation from Japan, dozens of Koreans gathered in the north to commemorate this important date.

Tourism has also been booming in North Korea. In 2005, over 275,000 South Korean tourists visited Mt. Kumgang resort in North Korea, bringing the total to over 1.1 million. That year, over 10,000 Koreans, not counting tourists, had social and cultural exchanges in the north, a doubling from 2002 to 2004, when an average of 5,000 Koreans met per year. Together, they reconstructed Buddhist temples and Christian churches, and held meetings to discuss intellectual property rights of literature and a common dictionary. Last year, North Koreans watched a South Korean opera, and this year, South Koreans will watch “Sa-yuk-shin,” a North Korean drama on TV.

Perhaps the most emotional aspect of this historic process is the meeting of families, many who have not seen their relatives in over 50 years. Last year, 660 separated family members were reunited in person, and 800 family members were able to see and speak to each other through webcast, a new technology that has helped the elderly who can no longer travel far distances.

And if there is any indication of how the South Korean business community feels about reunification, let’s just say that South Koreans are putting money where their mouths are. Economic exchange between North and South Korea grew almost 60 percent in one year, exceeding $875 million in 2005. And just from the Kaesong joint-industrial zone, over $11 million of manufactured goods were exported to South Korea in 2005, including steel pots and pans, which sold out in 19 minutes once they hit Seoul’s department stores. This trade will only increase once the Trans-Korean railway project is complete. But it won’t be only transporting goods. Koreans from Seoul will be able to travel through Pyongyang to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, where Koreans will play as a unified team. Personally, I wouldn’t want to coach that team, but I can tell you that I will for sure be on that train!

Others engaging North Korea

In addition to normalizing relations with South Korea in 2000, North Korea also signed a treaty with Russia, and in 2004 established diplomatic relations with the EU. A New York Times article, “North Korea is Reaching Out to the World, and the World is Reaching Back,” documents how North Korea now has embassies in 41 countries and diplomatic ties with 155 nations.

And it’s not just governments that are engaging North Korea. Last fall, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced plans to build a plant in North Korea to manufacture 50 medical products and train North Korean medical staff overseas.

Foreigners investing in North Korea may seem like news to most of the world, but this was the sense I got when I visited North Korea in the summer of 2004. Our peace and humanitarian aid delegation stayed at the Koryo Hotel, Pyongyang’s finest, and in the lobby and dining room, and on the elevator, I was surprised to see so many foreigners from Europe, China, Japan, and South Korea. Clearly, the 2002 economic reforms North Korea implemented are finally attracting the foreign investment they need.

Conclusion

In the summer of 2004, Korean soldiers on both sides of the DMZ began to dismantle loudspeakers used for decades to broadcast government propaganda against the other side. South Koreans flashed “peace and reunification” before they went off for good.

Despite meaningful progress between the two Koreas, the Korean peninsula as understood by the international order is caught between the past and present. Sour relations between Pyongyang and Washington are in a stalemate, and are causing a rift between South-U.S. relations. Koreans, seeing the significant gains in peace and reunification, are no longer willing to accept America’s Cold War mentality. On January 18th, the Journalist Association of Korea, the largest journalist group with 6,000 members, asked U.S. ambassador Alexander Vershbow to “stop making anti-North Korean remarks that do more harm than good,” and to apologize for his remarks, which they viewed as “an intrusion in domestic affairs.” South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun also recently made clear that he did not endorse U.S. sanctions against North Korea. If the Bush administration continues hostile regime change policies, Roh said, “there will be friction and disagreements between Seoul and Washington.”

If the United States genuinely wants peace and human rights for the Korean people, then U.S.-Korea policy should reflect this aspiration. Concretely, the United States should sign a non-aggression pact with North Korea, lift economic sanctions, minimize hostile rhetoric towards the north, and support the Korean people’s efforts towards reunification.

It was just my parents’ generation when the Korean War happened. Although it might be called the “Forgotten War” in the U.S., Koreans are still divided as a legacy of that war. As a Korean American, I feel especially responsible because I live in the United States, and as an American citizen, I want America to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Nobody could have imagined Korea’s phenomenal progress just a few years ago. Just like Germany in the 1980s, nobody dreamed that East and West Germany would reunite, but it happened overnight. Strong popular desire for reunification was key, as were cultural ties that helped build trust between the two societies. Those who doubt Korean reunification should now be reminded that there were doubters back then too. Let’s bring America along with the rest of the world and chart a new Korea policy that finally ends the Korean War and secures permanent peace for Koreans.

This is an abridged version of Christine Ahn's Congressional testimony on January 25, 2005. Ahn is a member of Korean-Americans United for Peace and an Oakland Institute Fellow.

new feature!

Just in case any of you didn't notice, I've recently added labourstart Korea's newswire (which I also help maintain) to the bottom left corner of our blog. I think it is a good feature as I don't obviously have the time to post on everything that comes up and they often have good daily coverage of events as they unfold. Labourstart also has newsfeeds from a variety of other countries that you can incorporate into your own web pages.

bye bye kim tae hwan

An article appeared in today's Korea Herald titled "Outgoing labour minister a hit with business" that takes a brief look at Kim tae-hwan's career. From the title you can see that he was certainly popular with some. It seems he has been tough on the labour movement, even though he was previously an advisor to it. Seems also that he has done a lot to weaken the benefits enjoyed by regular workers while trying to do something to protect, yet expand, non-regular forms of work. The article points out that this is in tune with an OECD report calling for the government to ease employment protection for regular workers and to provide a social safety net for non regular workers. The OECD report, however, seems more suited to the interests of Transnational Corporations, or domestic chaebol, that aren't too interested in providing high wages or long term benefits for their workers.

The article also seems to think it is a good thing to have set about creating a strict neoliberal labour market, by punishing political strikes by unions and intervening in others. What the article, and perhaps Kim, seem to ignore, however, is the fact that a flexible labour market is perhaps not a particularly desirable outcome for all if by flexibility we mean the enhanced right to hire and fire workers on a whim, or deny them benefits (see article below for some of the criticisms of flexibilization in Korea). Especially in a country without a strong social safety net. The government does deserve some marks in attempting to expand one, it is true, but this comes as a bandaid measure to ease some of the social conflict its labour market already generates and will generate in the future if such forms of job insecurity continue to proliferate. Concepts like flexibilty may sound desirable, as indeed certain forms of job-task and production flexibilty are, but the neoliberal meaning of the word above is not the kind of flexibilty that invests in workers skills or capacities, instead it is the type of flexibity which offers to pay workers less for the jobs they are already doing.

The unions have been pursuing a militant fight against the upcoming labour reform bills however they are also enduring some internal strife of their own. Kotaji has a few recent posts about how this has affected the democratic labour party internal elections, the results, and their aftermath that are worthy to read. Hopeful the labour movement will continue to rebuild and rejuvinate, and perhaps with a more sensitive labour minister for whom expanding precarious and irregular forms of works do not appear as inevitable, or even, necessarily desirable.

Pressure on the NHRC

There was an interesting article in the Korea Times yesterday titled "CEO's call for disbanding of National Human Right's Commission." I'll reprint the article below momentarily, but a few comments seem necessary first, however. The NHRC has been trying to get rights of migrants and irregular workers recognized for some time now. Indeed, we've tried to cover some of their proposals on our blog to date, recently with the sit-in in the NHRC office by the MTU, and in the battle over labour flexibilization that the NHRC has weighed in on.

The big five employers groups -- the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses, the Korea International Trade Association and the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) -- were pretty blunt in their message opposing the NHRC's proposals claiming that "[t]he commission’s recommendations only reflect the progressive segment of our society.’’ I guess employer's are mad that their 'retrogressive' views aren't in the document.

Here's the story:

CEOs Call for Disbanding of Human Rights Commission
By Choi Kyong-aeStaff Reporter

Read More...
Korean business leaders Tuesday united to urge the government to reject what they call a labor-friendly set of recommendations by the National Human Rights Commission.

``The commission’s recommendations only reflect the progressive segment of our society,’’ they said in a joint statement after an emergency meeting at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul.

They called for the replacement of all 11 members of the commission with those who would ``broadly represent the national sentiment.’’

Their collective action came after the commission last week made its final draft for a ``national action plan’’ for the government to minimize the employment of non-regular workers and reduce its right to intervene and settle labor disputes, among other things.

The government will pick and choose from among the recommendations and make its version to the United Nations by June. Although the government’s proposal will have legal binding force, it is expected to set the tone for the future course of the nation’s labor policy.

As a result, the business leaders risked the wrath of the progressive government and came out in force, issuing a point-by-point rebuttal on the commission’s recommendations.

The statement chided the commission for trying to deal with the issue of non-regular workers from an ideological point of view. ``It is an industrial issue and should be treated as one,’’ it said.

Regarding its call for the removal of the government’s direct intervention, they claimed that it should be preserved as tool to protect the general public from harms that result from strikes in the nation’s key industries such as power stations and transportation systems.

``If these recommendations were accepted, it would trigger a great confusion throughout society,’’ it said.
The five business associations signed on the joint statement. They were the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses, the Korea International Trade Association and the Korea Employers Federation (KEF).

``If the government follows the NHRC proposals, the society will have to shoulder a huge economic burden,’’ FKI chairman Kang Shin-ho said. ``The most urgent task for the management is to create jobs through facility investments and try to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor,’’ KEF chairman Lee Su-young said.
Lee said, however, that their statement didn’t target the government or President Roh Moo-hyun.

The commission’s action plan also called on the government to recognize conscientious objectors and allow teachers and public servants to participate in political activities.

The business community took issue with these recommendations, saying, ``These recommendations, if implemented, would shake the national security to its foundation.’’

During its FKI executives meeting last week, CEOs reached consensus that the business community should more aggressively have its voice heard about social issues as well as economic issues.
However, sources say that the business leaders’ bold action had more to do with an effort to gain an upper hand in their wage negotiations that come in spring or push for their agenda to be reflected in the nation’s roadmap on labor affairs to be finalized soon.

Meanwhile, the government said that Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan will host a meeting with senior officials to deal with the business community’s grievances. ``There are elements that need reconsideration in the commission’s recommendation,’’ a government official said.

More WTO follow-up

Just a quick post for today: The KCTU is preparing to send up to 1000 protestors to Hong Kong to demand the release of the 11 South Korean protestors still in jail there. Read more about it in the Choson here and Joongang Daily here. Here's an interview and some audio from a WTO protestor, Joel Wainwright, who was with the Korean contingent there in December, it's worth a listen.

Update -- Seems that all but three of the WTO protestors have been released. Here's is an article on who they are from the HK Standard. Meanwhile, Kotaji has some links to some commentary on the issue from the blogosphere and beyond.

New Year Labour Update

Here's a brief on some changes to Korean labour relations for this year. Most of are somewhat minor adjustments except for the legalization of civil service unions (something that has been promised since 1997) which will be provide with rights to collectively bargain, but not to strike. The big issue of irregular work expansion seems shelved for the moment but will come up again in the spring. Seems like they couldn't find time to pass it after the large protests on the issue last month as well as the controversy stemming from rice market policy that passed and the deaths of two demonstrators. Thus, the big news here is a series of resignations. National Police Commisioner Huh Joon-young has resigned as has Labour Minister Kim Dae Hwan resigned. The labour movement had been calling for his resignation since last spring in the wake of severe measure taken against irregular worker's strikes.

A longer story on the Migrant's Trade Union recently appeared in the Korea Times which is worth a read to bring readers up to date on the MTU's campaigns. Migrant activism has been increasing again recently following on the footheels of the 'Masok incident' in mid-October when migrants and locals stopped a crackdown by surrounding immigration buses for 9 hours and negotiating the release of a number of the detained migrants (see video and pics). The Times article also discusses the sit-in at the KNHRC that we covered in December.

Update:
Devon wrote a detailed description of the Masok incident over at her blog:

Immigration pulls into Maseok [on the afternoon of October 19] to round up as many illegal folk as they can get their hands on. They had successfully herded 31 people onto the bus when something miraculous happened: The residents and business owners in Maseok surrounded the bus and refused to let Immigration take the workers away. It turned into a 10 hour standoff. Sometime during the 10th hour, while MTU folks were furiously calling solidarity groups to come to Maseok and join the fight against Immigration, something else, that wasn't so miraculous, happened: The local leader of a group called JCMK, a reverend, stepped up and started negotiating with Immigration. In the end, Immigration drove the bus, all 31 migrants aboard, straight to Hwaseong Detention Center with the promise that they'd all be let go. Well, who the hell ever trusts the government, anyhow? I mean, really- when have they ever lived up to a promise like that? Any government in any country? So as any of us might have predicted, there was a catch: 22 of the 31 were out of detention by Thursday- with conditions. They were bonded, meaning they had to pay the government 500,000 won (about $500) as a sort of security deposit, and they had to buy a plane ticket out of the country with the promise to leave in no more than 14 days. Immigration threatened to sanction the employers in Maseok if all of the conditions weren't met to their satisfaction. The other 9 workers will be deported immediately because they don't have valid passports.
Read More...

I guess some people might view this as a victory. After all, the 22 people who were let out of detention have most certainly left Maseok to seek work in some other little industrial zone in Nowhere, Korea- out of the view of immigration- at least for a little while. But I am personally a bit miffed at the outcome. Here's why: the JCMK reverend negotiated with the full faith of the local community without actually consulting folks, and then convinced everyone that it would be okay, it's just really important to follow the law. Who knows, maybe people were prepared to hang out there for 24 hours, or 24 days until their demands were met. Perhaps, in this spontaneous spark of community solidarity, a really meaningful fight could've been waged against the unfair employment laws and really brought immigration policy into focus for the rest of Korea. This little bitty town in the middle of nowhere could've been the push the migrant's needed to gain a little respect in their fight for equality. It is completely possible that every single one of those workers could've been freed without ever having gone to the detention center in the first place. But they weren't.

And so this is what brings me to Maseok: I wanted to see for myself what was going on there. Right now, it is a very delicate political situation for MTU. They need to organize to get rid of the unfair immigration law called EPS, but for the moment, the reverend is a hero in Maseok. He apparently single-handedly freed 22 workers while, in his view, MTU stood by impotently. This reverend, as it turns out, also happens to fully support EPS, which has resulted in thousands upon thousands arrests and deportations since it's implementation, as well as has increased the number of people who work illegally in Korea. It's a crime the way the Korean government hunts down workers they need to keep communities like Maseok thriving- only to bring more workers in the country who, under this law, will inevitably become illegal in the not so distant future.

So MTU is in a bit of a bind. They need to have a strong presence in Maseok without being too strong. They need to organize without pissing off the JCMK, which also in some ways holds the workers and business community hostage because of their clout with politicians. The message from JCMK is: We'll help you, but it's going to be our way and we might not actually ask you about what you really want or need because without us, you couldn't do it. Which isn't actually true, but they've been effective at getting that message across. Isn't the road to hell paved with good intentions?

Campaign to release remaining WTO prisoners

Here's an appeal from an international campaign to free the remaining WTO protestors that came out today. I'll reprint it in full:

International Campaign for the Immediate Release of WTO Political Prisoners
(Sponsoring organizations: Korean Struggle Mission---Korean Confederationof Trade Unions, Korean Peasants League, and Korean Catholic FarmersAssociation---Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, Hong Kong People’sAlliance, and Via Campesina)

Background
During the 6th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference that washeld in Hong Kong from December 13 to 18, 2005, thousands of participantsrepresenting trade unions and labor rights groups, peasant’s, civil society, migrant rights, and women’s organizations, and social movement organizations participated in a series of peaceful protests, rallies, andother actions to protest the WTO and its impact on workers, farmers, and people all around the world, specifically in developing countries.On the eve of the conclusion of the WTO Ministerial meetings (December17), these groups realized that despite their many efforts, to express their concerns and have their voices heard, the so-called representativesof the people continuously refused to listen.
Read More...
Government officials and trade analysts had cloistered themselves in the convention center pushing forward to achieve some sort of consensus and finalize an agreement that would once again clearly favor developed countries, fail to alleviate poverty, and further increase the gap between the rich and poor.As rally participants attempted to make their way to the convention center, the Hong Kong police forcibly blocked them. Knowing that this could be their last chance, the participants decided to move forward. Although the Hong Kong police attempted to disperse the crowd, the participants were desperate to enter the convention site. They became increasingly frustrated by the efforts of the Hong Kong police to stop and silence them and as a result a confrontation ensued between the participants and the Hong Kong police.

Hong Kong Police Violations Against Demonstrators
During this confrontation the police used excessive force, pepper spray, tear gas, and more importantly anti-riot beanbags (rubber bullets) to stopthe participants. It was recently revealed that the Hong Kong police had never used beanbag bullets on demonstrators in Hong Kong, and that theyare only intended to be used against rioters. It should be noted that theparticipants in no way started a riot nor was it their intention to do so. The intentions of their actions were peacefully motivated and thus, the response of the police in no way warranted such drastic actions. As a consequence many were injured during the confrontation.Little past midnight on December 18, the Hong Kong police surrounded theprotestors and refused to let anyone to either enter or leave the cordonedarea. Starting at 2:30 am, the police declared that everyone wasparticipating and an “unlawful assembly” and began to systematicallyarrest more than 1,300 participants. Since the police did not have sufficient vans to transfer the participants, it took them over ten hoursto arrest everyone and incarcerate them in 14 detention centers acrossHong Kong. During the arresting and detention process a number were beaten by thepolice, hundreds were forced to be handcuffed in plastic cable wires behind their backs for more than three hours waiting to be processed bythe police at the detention centers, and in certain cases, in the earlystages of the detention, women were strip searched. A large number ofdetainees were held for 48 hours, the legal time frame for the Hong Kongpolice to either charge those arrested or release them. During this timemany participants, in some cases 20 people together, were forcibly crampedinto 3x3 cells with no blanket to cover the cold cement floors.

14 WTO Political Prisoners
In the end, the Hong Kong government released all of the participantsexcept 14 individuals who they deemed to be the ringleaders and thus responsible for damages to public property and injuries suffered by the Hong Kong police. Of the fourteen arrested, nine are South Korean farmers, two are members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one is a homeless rights activist in Japan, one is a Taiwanese student, and one is mainland Chinese. Although the 14 WTO Political Prisoners are out on bail, twelve of the defendants (eleven Korean and one Japanese) are currently living in a local church due to the generosity ofthe Hong Kong Catholic Bishop, awaiting their trial. It should be noted that this is the first time that foreign nationals have been charged and are undergoing a formal trial procedure for participating in actions against the WTO.

Hunger Strike Launched by the WTO Political Prisoners
12 of the 14 WTO Political Prisoners have decided to launch an indefinite hunger strike starting January 5 to not only highlight the injustice oftheir case, but more importantly highlight the reason for them coming toHong Kong---to protest against the WTO. Their fight was not with thepeople of Hong Kong, but with the undemocratic institution of the WTO andthe free trade policies implement by the WTO without any real consultation with workers and farmers.

Call for Action
We are calling for the international community to express your outrage tothe Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong police by calling for the immediate release of the 14 WTO political prisoners. We are asking individuals and organizations to participate in a variety of activitiesthat we are launching in conjunction with the Hunger Strike by the WTO Political Prisoners.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1.International Support Letter Writing CampaignWrite to Donald Tsang calling for the immediate release of the 14 WTOPolitical Prisoners. Please see the enclosed sample letter. Send copiesof all letters to the International Committee for the Immediate Release ofthe WTO political prisoners at antiwto2005@naver.com andhkpa.documentation@gmail.com.

2.Coordinate an International Day of ActionWe are calling for interested organizations and individuals to coordinatea protest rally in front of the Chinese Embassy on Monday, January 9, 2006at 12:00 pm. In addition to the rally, we urge people to meet withembassy officials calling for the immediate release of the 14 WTOPolitical PrisonersPlease send all information of international day of actions toantiwto2005@naver.com and hkpa.documentation@gmail.com.

3.Participate in an Internal Solidarity Mission to Hong Kong.We are coordinating an international delegation consisting of key leadersfrom trade unions, human rights groups, civil society organizations, peasant’s groups, and other social movements to participate in asolidarity mission to Hong Kong. The program will start with a localrally coordinated by Hong Kong support groups on January 8, participatingin the international day of action and press conference on January 9,visiting key members within the Hong Kong government and the prosecutionon January 10 and ending with observing the pre-trial hearing scheduled for January 11. For more information about the International Solidarity Mission, pleasecontact Elizabeth Tang. of the HKCTU at 852-9091-9088 and Jin Sook Lee ofthe KCTU at 852-6733-83954.

4.Solidarity Hunger Strike We are calling for individuals and organizations to conduct a solidarityhunger strike for either one meal or one day anytime between January 5 to11, 2006.Please send all information of solidarity hunger strike toantiwto2005@naver.com and hkpa.documentation@gmail.com.

5.Financial SupportWe appeal for financial support towards the expenses that the detaineeshave incurred as a result of the detention. Donations can be sent to HKBS001-393248-001 or by cheques payable to Student Christian Movement of HongKong. Please send cheques to Mr. Chan Chiu Wai at 7/F Wing Wong Building557-559 Nathan Road Kowloon, Hong Kong. Be sure to note on the cheque that the donation is "support for arrested WTO protestors".

Sample Letter

Mr. Donald Tsang
Chief Executive
Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong People's Republic of China
Via fax: 852-2509-0577 or Via e-mail ceo@ceo.gov.hk
January 4, 2006
Dear Chief Executive Tsang:
On behalf of ________, I am writing to express our deep concerns about thearrest of 14 protestors from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and mainlandChina, who are facing charges of unlawful assembly for the events thattranspired on the December 17, 2005 near the vicinity of the 6th WorldTrade Organization’s Ministerial Conference site in Hong Kong.The 14 protestors charged were among more than 1,300 people arrested onthe night of December 17 questioning the on-going negotiations within theconference site, which would undoubtedly be detrimental to the livelihoodof farmers, workers, and people around the world. The protestors wereattempting to voice their frustration and desperation at yet another roundof the WTO Ministerial conference that yielded no measures to alleviatepoverty or to address their concerns.Although all fourteen are released on bail, it is our understanding thatthe Hong Kong government has formally charged them with “unlawfulassembly” and they are considering adding new charges. We are veryconcerned by the actions of the Hong Kong government and the police. Thus, we strongly call for the immediate release of the 14 protestors sothat they can return home to their families.We must also voice our serious concerns at the uncalled for and excessiveuse of force by the Hong Kong Police during the night of the 17th. Manywere injured, and electric shock batons were used, while reports of‘beanbags pellets’ being fired upon have also been confirmed. We havebeen told that there were numerous instances of human rights violationsduring the process of detaining over 1,300 protestors that have beendocumented by human rights organizations. We urge that an impartial andthorough inquiry into the human rights violations and the violence used onthe part of the Hong Kong police be pursued.As concerned __________ regarding this matter, we would like to point outthat a failure to properly investigate and rectify human rights violationswould reflect negatively on the human rights standards of the SpecialAdministrative Region of Hong Kong. A harsh sentence for the 14 wouldalso put into question the democratic tolerance of the region, taking intoaccount that no foreigners have been arrested in previous cases of similardemonstrations.We will continue to monitor closely the proceedings regarding the 14protestors and again stress our call for the immediate release of the 14activists.
We thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.Sincerely,(list of signatories)

CC: Pascal Lamy Fax: 41-22-731-42-06 or enquiries@wto.org

back from vacation

In case anyone was wondering, the lack of posts lately was because I was away from reliable internet access while on Christmas break. To bring readers up to date, there are a few stories we'll be posting shortly on WTO follow-up, changes in Korean labour relations, and migrant labour issues... Check back soon

Good news for Migrants Trade Union!

Breaking News from the Migrant Trade Union, seems they have ended their occupation of the Korean National Human Rights Commission Offices under some pretty favorable terms. Things had been looking tough lately with the detention of one of their leaders, Radhika, however the KNHRC was actually fairly supportive of the migrant activists and in the end came up with a compromise that supports migrant's rights including, and this is pretty unprecedented, full labour rights for the MTU, a union of undocumented workers. How this bodes with other ministries is certain to be important, as other key ministries are strongly influenced by the business groups who hire migrants. But this is a very positive stop nonetheless, one that I haven't seen so much elsewhere.

Here's the update:

Yesterday, December 21st, after an intense round of negotations with theChief of the Korean National Human Rights Commission, the Migrants' TradeUnion of Korea officially ended their 17 day occupation of the Korean National Human Rights Office.

They started their occupation demanding therelease of their union president, Anwar Hossain, and agreed to leave only after securing the following from the KNRHC: First, the KNHRC has promised officially to back the MTU as a legtimate and legal trade union in Korea. To this end, they will lobby the Korean government to register the MTU as an official trade union, thus guaranteeing to the MTU the three most basic labor rights: the right to form a union, the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike. Since its inception, the Korean government has deemed the MTU an illegal organization because its member are living in Korea without a working visa.

Second, the KNHRC as agreed to make a commission on Migrants' Rights- an official branch of the human rights office devoted soley to migrants' issues. In this commission, migrant workers will have representation and direct input into the KNHRC's statements and policies on migrant workers through the MTU.Though they did not secure the release of Anwar, they achieved a great victory for their union.

The MTU thanks everyone for the support they have given over the last 17 days. Your letters and solidarity statements helped make this victory possible. Please continue to send letters to the Minister of Justice and demand the release of our union president, Anwar Hossain. Let's fight together!

death of another farmer

Seems the rumor that a protestor had died in Hong Kong Sunday morning was actually the death of farmer -- Hong Deok-pyo -- in South Korea. Farmers there got the word while staging their sit-in near the convention center and Guy Taylor had written about it briefly in his dispatches, though iniatially it was reported that it was the death of a WTO protestor in Hong Kong. The news was finally confirmed in media today by the Choson Ilbo. The injuries stemmed from the November 15th protest against the rice market liberalization that we mentioned in our story about Jeon Yong Cheol, who was also fatally injured at the protest, and in our lead-up article to the WTO. President Roh has apparently called an investigation into the protest.

Roh said he was stunned by scenes of violence during the demonstration aired on TV and worried people were bound to get hurt. But he urged the public to recognize that the police officers in charge of maintaining order “are our sons,” no matter how regretful the farmers’ death, according to Kim.

Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan expressed the condolences and regret of the government to Hong’s family, according to Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Lee Kang-jin. He said the government will investigate and punish anyone involved in any illegal activities or excessive suppression of protestors. Lee said the government will try to prevent a repeat of such incidents and to plant a culture of peaceful demonstrations in Korea.

I'm curious as to whether this event will focus more attention on some of the more notorious anti-riot squads such as the 1001-1003 detachments who seem to have been captured time and again in the media yet have rarely been officially sanctioned. In 2001, they were captured on film beating of nonviolent unionists in Pupyeong during the Daewoo protests. The video created public backlash and, you can correct me on this, I think the police chief was fired. Video of the incident was also used in the 2002 British zombie film 28 Days Later, in a scene where apes are being infected by 'rage' by being shown violent video footage in a scene reminscent of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. Anyways, films aside, building a culture of "peacefull demonstration" will surely entail more supervision over some of these riot squads, and more importantly, reconsideration of some of the policy issues that create such deep social divisions to begin with.

More breaking news from WTO

[Update, Monday Dec. 19 -- Seems all but 11 of the South Korean protesters have been released, check this Yonhap story form more details.]

To bring you up to date on what has happened since yesterday, I'm reprinting targetWTO's newswire below. I also advise reading Guy Taylor's account of Saturday's protest for a fuller understanding of what happened, seems that most protestors were allowed to leave the sit-in at the convention center except for the Korea, this should have some interesting diplomatic consequences, kotaji also has more on this too.

Dec 19th, HK:
Some protesters have been released, but Korean activists are still being held.

1:10am: The first bus of 150 Korean women who are reportedly "released" has finally left the courthouse. Police say they’re taking them back to the camp they’ve been staying at. However, they would not let activists or anyone else talk to the women. There has been no contact at all between them and activists on the outside who are trying to keep up with them. One person tried to run up to the bus, as it was pulling away, with a cellphone. He was kept away by police. People are worried that the women might actually being taken to the airport to be deported. People are worried about what condition they are in.

Chan Yat Kwan, the head of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong, knocked on the door of the police station, demanding the release of the WTO protesters.

Solidarity activists hold candles outside the court and make noise. Some yell insults at police.

Read More

Dec 18th, HK:

LATEST UPDATE/ UP TO THE MINUTE BREAKING NEWS -
11:30pm: WTO negotiators reached a limited trade agreement that calls for the European Union to end farm export subsidies by 2013.

10:44pm: Despite corporate news reports that 150 Korean women have been released, they might have only been transfered to another location. Activists and lawyers are working to find concrete news.

REPORT FROM INSIDE THE CONFERENCE
9:30pm: From a journalist working for Pacifica Radio who is stationed inside: "Don't believe anything that you hear about the conference being over. Especially don't believe anything that you hear about this on Reuters and the AP. They are just wrong about this. Venezuela still hasn't said anything; so let's hope Hugo Chavez holds true. And Cuba is also not agreeing with the proposed text on services."

7:30pm: Less developed countries (LDCs) have agreed to the current draft of GATS that includes a condition agreed to by the US and EU that by 2008 LDCs will receive a 97 percent duty free, quota free import status into the US and EU markets. However, trade commissioners do not have the authority to make such promises—let alone try to implement them. As far as the US is concerned, decisions governing trade must be approved at least by the US Congress—whom policy makers and skeptics alike perceive as being very unlikely to agree to such a condition.

LDCs and developing nations want the US and EU to end agricultural subsidies by 2010. The US and the EU say they will end half of them by 2010, and all of them by 2013.

In terms of tariff cuts, neither the president nor trade commissioner has the authority to make these tariff cuts. Requires approval of congress.

The ending plenary of the WTO conference is scheduled to begin at 8pm.

10:45pm: 40-50 people are gathering outside the Kwungtung courthouse. Many are Via Campesina folks. One woman announced that contrary to maintream news reports, no one really knows what is going on with the legal statuses of the prisoners. The demonstrators outside the courthouse holding the solidarity vigil are demanding from the police to meet with a lawyer regarding the following: the number of people who are still being held; the locations where people are being held; and the condition of the places.

Some activists fear that police hold special antipathy for the male Korean protesters and will retaliate on them.

10:13pm: Outside the Kwuntung jail nearly 20 people are banging on the police barricades and otherwise being rowdy and cheerful as they continue to demonstrate their support for the WTO protesters who are in detention. Some cops are setting up in the are with riot shields, and the police presence continues to grow.

10:00pm: Fifteen people--mostly Hong Kong activists--are gathered outside the Kwuntong jail in solidarity with those locked up, drumming with the hope that the activists who are inside will be able to hear them.
Via Campesina is outside the courthouse to hold a solidarity vigil as well.

7:30pm: Early this evening a crowd of 7,000 people marched down Hennessey Rd to Victoria Park. There was a strong contingent of migrant workers, and lots of locals.

At the following rally in the protest pen in Wan chai demonstrators sang Solidarity Forever in many different languages, simultaneously, and threw rose petals into the air. Speakers- including ones from HKPA- announced that they supported the Koreans for fighting and condemned the police violence.

However, at the conclusion of the march 200 Koreans and some of their local supporters sat down right outside a fence on the periphery of the legitimized protest zone. HKPA marshals have been telling people to go around them and are trying to block them off from others. Meanwhile, a crowd of 400 people have gathered, watching and hanging around.

6:30pm: All of our sources say that almost all of the people who were arrested early this morning are still waiting to be arraigned. According to a lawyer working with the Hong Kong People’s Alliance (HKPA), as of now the charges they are facing are still unclear and may involve jail time and/or deportation for foreigners. Many of the detainees are Korean and some are Southeast Asian, and police are not providing them with information in the languagues they speak. In addition, police are not allowing interpreters to see the prisoners.

Currently both the HKPA and lawyers have NO ACCESS to the people who are detained. Although there are lawyers at every police station, no one knows where the arrested are because police keep moving the detainees around. According to the HPKA lawyer the activists will be held at Kwungtong Court and the following police stations: Kwuntong, Kowloon, Sau Mau Ping, Cheung Kwun and Tau Kok. (The Thai and Japanese prisoners are rumored to be held at the Cheung Kwun O station.) Eleven buses loaded with prisoners from the protest are currently in transit.

One person who was arrested—a Hong Kong activist who works with the Social Movement Resource Center—talked to us at 5:30pm on his cellphone from a bus on which he and other arrestees are being held captive. The bus—in addition to 19 other buses—are parked in Kowloon. On this particular bus our contact is on there are 4 Hong Kong people and 22 Koreans. The initial occupation of the Wanchai intersection began last night at 8pm. Mass arrests at that same site began at 3:30am. The detainees who were on the bus with our contact had only finally, at 5:30, been given food.

The kinds of support for the detained that are needed at this time include: donations for legal services, publicity, and pressure on the police to allow translators to talk with the non-Cantonese and English speakers.

The HPKA has a tent center at Victoria Park that is supposedly coordinating legal support.

A demonstration of solidarity with those in jail will be held tonight outside the Kwuntong main police station. Although protesters are being held in many different places, ultimately all of them will be charged at Kwuntong Court. Since it is Sunday, it is possible that the detainees will have to wait until Monday morning before the arraignment process can begin for all of the protesters.

5:00pm: A rally is being held at the protest zone. All the Hong Kong activists have now been released with $1,000 HKD bails. At 7:00pm a march will leave from there heading for Kwuntong- where the incarcerated activists are being held. Activists will be running a relay hunder strike and camping outside of the detention facility, to demonstrate their solidarity with the Korean farmers and others who were arrested last night.

"Hong Kong people are sympathetic to the sufferings of the farmers,'' Tsang said during a press briefing in Wan Chai this afternoon. "But the protesters ignored the assigned route yesterday, causing traffic in Wan Chai to collapse and damage to public facilities. They even used barricades as weapons. We can't tolerate this."

EARLIER ON DECEMBER 18
12am: Police have surrounded and have given an ultimatum to arrest all 1000 protesters who are engaging in a peaceful street occupation/sit-in 1 block from the convention centre on Gloucester Rd and Fleming Rd following the release of tear gas canisters by the police.

3:30am:The police have started arresting the peaceful protestors since and the arrests will continue throughout the morning. The peaceful occupiers are asking for support from the activist community to proceed with an international appeal to have the protesters released immideately, have their human rights respected, as the actions of the police are undignified.

Hong Kong: Breaking News

Things seem to be hitting the fan in Hong Kong. Protests escalated Saturday with protestors breaching police lines around the convention center, temporarily sealing delegates into the conference center. The protest was against a last minute attempt to push through a deal on agriculture which would still attempt to open developing country's agricltural markets by 2010 but leave negiotations on the specifics open to 2008. Focus on the Global South and Via Campesina obtained copies of the agreement and showed them to the protestors.

According to the a Guardian UK report, protestors claim that things turned violent when police blocked a permitted march near the convention center. Tear gas, water cannon, pepper spray and electric baton use have been reported, and used in excess and a number of bystanders were affected. As of 3:30am Sunday (Hong Kong time), mass arrests are being reported with over 900 protests surrounded at the convention center site and being bused out slowly, there is also an unconfirmed report that one protestor has died in hospital but no other media sites seem to substantiate this claim as of yet [Update: It seems this report may have been about a protestor in South Korea from previous protest, read more here]. NotoWTO Blog has breaking updates from the crowd being arrested at the convention center site which I'll reprint below. Labourstart's Global newswire has several related stories as does Guy Taylor's dispatches from Globalize Resistance. Here's a general overview from monters and critics. Target WTO's news stream is also up to date, here's their latest:

Dec 17th, HK:
(i) Pakistan's Commerce Minister and
facilitator Humayun Akhtar Khan [1] has stated "no breakdowns or breakthroughs" had occurred during the WTO talks, although with news circulating that no new agreement may be signed, [2] the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) are now preparing for a "celebratory mass action" tomorrow.

(ii) Big protests took place in the evening, reports say people were confronted with a large police
presence. The police used a lot of pepperspray to try and disperse people.

(iii) Hong Kong Police stopped the protest from approachingthe conference center. Teargas and rubber-bullets were used. Some of the protesters were injured. 900 people are besieged in Wanchai near the conference center. 3:30am: Arrests have now begun. Protesters are being loaded
onto buses.

(iv) Police have cornered and threatened to arrest 1000 protesters during a peaceful street occupation 1 block from the convention centre. They've been held there for the last 3 hours. Protesters are asking for support from the activist community to proceed with an international appeal to have the protesters released immideately, have their human rights respected, as the actions of the police are undignified.

There are also links to video and timelines of other events and protests at the target WTO site. Also, here's a link to a CNN video on today's protest.

Read More...

From NOTOWTO blog:
Mass Arrests!

1:30 AM HK time (12:30 PM NY time)
WTO protesters (too-jeng-dan) seem to be at the foot of the WTO convention center and they are completely surrounded by riot police. There are around 900-1000 with no one allowed in or out. The police are planning to arrest everyone inside the perimeter. The too-jeng-dan have not had food since lunch previous day. They cannot even use the bathroom. But their spirits are as high as can be with non-stop chanting and singing and banging on drums.
Earlier in the day rubber bullets were reported to have been fired and some were hospitalized.
The police are readying buses to transport the 1000 or so too-jeng-dan. They are also preparing tear gas squads for the charge in.

3:00 AM HK time (2:00PM NY time)
Got a call from e. She states calmly that they will all be arrested, but tells me not to worry because there are many of them. They have the power in numbers. The HK police cannot do anything to them!

3:30 AM HK time (2:30PM NY time)
Spoke with E again.
Police are all very young kids, inexperienced. Mostly they seem very frightened.
E was able to translate between the chief of police and the too-jeng-dan. It's strange but the chief of police seems very sympathetic to the farmers’ cause and understands why they are protesting but still explains that he must restore order.
The HK police have no precedent for such violent and mass arrests so they are very procedural and everything is taking a lot of time.
The protesters have agreed to be arrested, but one by one. There are tons of reporters and cameras covering this whole event. The WTO too-jeng-dan have already made their voices heard and will not struggle when taken.
They are being taken one by one and the HK police have promised to be very gentle with them. Largely the HK police are very young, frightened and civil at the same time and it’s chief has so far been cooperative. (who knows how this will really play out though).

The WTO too-jeng-dan has so far been pepper sprayed, tear gassed, beat on with batons, electric batonned, water cannoned (they also mixed in pepper gas formula in the water to burn eyes & skin when sprayed), exposed to chilly HK winter winds, hunger and fatigue…so show a little bit of wear but they are still in strong fighting spirits.

D who went out earlier to the hospital to translate for an injured protester was arrested by the police. Same thing also happened to J when she went to the hospital. Otherwise the rest of the KEEPers are all together inside the perimeter. KEEPers are hungry and tired but are very inspired to be part of this historical struggle. They will never forget this experience.

That’s it for now. If there's more I will let you know.

Toojeng!

Hong Kong: continuing protests

Just a quick post today to promote this blog from a group of Korean-american activists at the WTO. Lots of great first-hand accounts, pictures, and, frankly, a sensitivity to what's going on that you just don't see in the mainstream coverage. It's been very exciting to see how these Hong Kong anti-corporate globalization protests have combined all these different groups from the region in such a unified and organized manner. Just goes to show you that there are a variety of different forms of transnational cooperation and exchange beyond the market driven ones we often interpret as globalization. Here's a blog from a Canadian union president, for a view coming from organized labour.

Hong Kong Protests

Haven't been covering the WTO protests in Hong Kong closely on the blog these last few days as it's a big item in the news. There have been three major days of protest so far, with the largest march Sunday and two days of action since then. Tuesday and Wednesday have seen scuffles between protestors and riot police. Interesting how Koreans play into the news, as touched on in a previous post, you would think that they replaced the word anarchist with Korean in the media these days, with plenty of attention paid to the Korean Peasant's League, some it approaching admiration in terms of accounts of the degree of organisation among the Farmer's group. Here's an account from the Taipai Times that discusses some of the KPL's protest tactics, the use of music and wave formations, etc. As for tuesday's protests that included 300 Korean protestors trying to swim to the convention center and other confrontations, check here for news and here for first hand accounts. Target WTO has links to a whole bunch of photos, videos, and first hand accounts of the protests which go beyond some of the spin we've been receiving, as does Indymedia. Lots of interesting stuff happening on the ground in Hong Kong from the looks of it here. [Update-- Here's a story on Thursday's protests].

In terms of the convention itself, it seems talks are at a deadlock, take a look at google's WTO newswire.

MTU appeal

Here's the latest appeal from the Migrant's Trade Union. As covered previously on our blog, the MTU have been staging a sit-in at the offices of the National Human Rights Commission. The MTU are urging supporters to write in and have included instructions below on how to do so. Here is also the link to an online form for such purposes.

****Revised Action Alert***
Demand the Immediate Release of Anwar Hossain, President of Migrant Workers' Union, KCTU!
Stop Crackdown on Migrant Workers! Help MTU have its demands met! Prevent more MTU leaders from being arrested:

On Monday, December 5, 2005, migrant workers from the Migrants' Trade Union began occupying the offices of Korea's National Human Rights Commission in protest of a recent decision to uphold the unlawful detention of MTU's president, Anwar Hossain. MTU members and some of their supporters entered the building about about 10am, demanding to speak with the Chief of the KNHRC. They held a rally in his office for about 12 hours, until the Chief agreed to speak with them. In this meeting, MTU members demanded that the KNHRC change their ruling and recommend that the Korean government grant the full release of Anwar Hossain. This meeting was fruitless and went long into the night. Since there was no agreement, MTU has decided that they will stay in the KNHRC indefinitely.

Read More...


Currently, 10 MTU leaders are occupying the KNHRC offices, and many supporters are there with them. On Tuesday night, they held a small rally in the main office of the KNHRC, with about 50 supporters inside the office with them. The MTU leaders are in an extremely precarious situation. It is possible that without your support, the KNHRC could hand them over to Immigration officials at any time. Please take a moment to send a letter to the chief of Korea's National Human Rights Commission, Cho Young-hwang: cyh@humanrights.go.kr

Take Action NOW!
http://mail.yahoo.com/config/login?/C:\Documents

Dear Mr. Cho,

It has come to my attention that Anwar Hossian, President of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants' Trade Union is still in detention at the Cheonju Detention Center just south of Seoul. While in detention, his health has been steadily deteriorating and he has been denied association with people he can communicate with. This isolation is making his mental health suffer in addition to his physical health, and is a form of torture. Furthermore, you found through your own investigation that his arrest was actually illegal because an arrest warrant was not issued within the legal time frame set forth by Korean immigration law.

Mr. Hossain is not a criminal and it is not just treat him like one. I implore you to release Mr. Hossain immediately, pending the outcome of his lawsuit. To do otherwise is clearly politically motivated and an obvious

ploy meant to thwart the Migrant' Trade Union organizing efforts.

Yours sincerely,

Send a message to the Minister of Justice:

This is a little difficult because the website is in Korean, but please try. Here are instructions. Use this link to access the freeboard on his homepage: http://www.jb21.or.kr/netizen/list.asp?bid=1
Next, click on the green button on the far right hand side. It looks like this:
This will open a new page. At the very bottom of that page, there is a small grey icon

It means 'write'. Click on it.
The first line asks you for a name:
The second line asks you for your email address.
The third line asks for your subject.
Finally, you can enter the text below.
The last thing you have to do is enter a password at the bottom of the form. You can write anything here and it will work.

Dear Mr. Cheon,

It has come to my attention that Anwar Hossian, President of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants' Trade Union is still in detention at the Cheonju Detention Center just south of Seoul. While in detention, his health has been steadily deteriorating and he has been denied association with people he can communicate with. This isolation is making his mental health suffer in addition to his physical health, and is a form of torture. Furthermore, it was found through an investigation conducted by the Korean National Human Rights Comission that his arrest was actually illegal because an arrest warrant was not issued within the legal time frame set forth by Korean immigration law.

Mr. Hossain is not a criminal and it is not just treat him like one. I implore you to release Mr. Hossain immediately, pending the outcome of his lawsuit. To do otherwise is clearly politically motivated and an obvious ploy meant to thwart the Migrant' Trade Union organizing efforts.
Sincerely,

Background Information:

On May 14, 2005, Anwar Hossain, president of the Migrants' Trade Union in Korea, was forcibly arrested by more than 30 Korean immigration officials in the early hours of the morning. Anwar was beaten by immigration police and had to receive treatment for the injuries that were sustained at the time of his arrest. Anwar has been languishing in Cheonju Detention Center, about two hours south of Seoul, since his arrest in May. In the detention center, Anwar was been isolated from detainees who speak Korean or Bangla, and is only allowed association with those he cannot communicate with. He physical health has also been steadily deteriorating since his capture.
Immediately after Anwar was arrested, MTU filed suit in Korea's courts and appealed to the Korean National Human Rights Commission requesting a temporary release of Anwar. In their investigation, the KNHRC found that Anwar's arrest was actually illegal. According to Korean immigration law, a warrant must be issued within 48 hours of an arrest. In Anwar's case, more than 52 hours passed before a valid warrant for his arrest was issued. It was later found out that there was actually a warrant issued within the initial 48 hour period, but it was signed by an employee who doesn't have the authority to issue warrants. However, due to this evidence, the KNHRC has sided with immigration officials and denied recommending the full release of Anwar, as well as the temporary release of Anwar. This means that Anwar will have to remain in the detention center until the outcome of his court case, which could take several years to resolve as it is still in the lowest level of the court system and will likely be appealed until it reaches the highest level of the Korean court system, the Special Court.
Anwar is not a criminal. The KNHRC investigation has shown that his arrest was illegal, and continuing to detain him is not only illegal according to Korea's own immigration laws, but also inhumane. Demand justice for Anwar! Please send a letter to the Korean Ministry of Justice and the Korean Human Rights Commission demanding the full release of Anwar Hossain.

A Brief History of the Migrants' Trade Unions

MTU was officially formed on April 28th, 2005, after a 14 year history of struggle against Korea's oppressive and racist immigration laws, as well as unfair, unsafe and discriminatory workplace practices. The history of the migrant workers struggle started in 1991 in the small town of Maseok, when migrant workers banded together to fight an employer who refused to compensate an employee for a workplace injury. Through direct actions such as strikes and protests, migrant workers were able to achieve victories at their work sites. These victories led the formation of a larger group of migrant activists who began challenging not only employers, but also the Korean government. Eventually, in 2002 they would come together to form ETU-MB- the Equality Trade Union, Migrants' Branch.

Starting in November of 2003, ETU-MB staged a 377 day sit-in struggle at Myeong Dong Cathedral in protest of the crackdown on migrant workers in Korea, as well as the implementation of Korea's immigration law called Employment Permit System (EPS). After the sit-in struggle in Myeong Dong, MTU was formed so that migrant workers could have power within their own organization and make decisions for themselves. MTU is the only organization in Korea that is organized and led solely by migrant workers in Korea. They are still struggling against EPS and the constant crackdown on Korea's migrant workers.

CRACKDOWN AGAINST MIGRANT WORKERS

From the beginning, the South Korean government refused to recognize the Migrant Workers Trade Union (MTU) and publicly announced that the MTU could not have the three basic labor rights---the right to organize, the right to strike, and the right to collective bargaining. In addition, the South Korean government launched an all-out campaign to repress the MTU. During a press conference held by the MTU to announce its formation, immigration officials secretly videotaped the proceedings in an effort to specifically target migrant workers participating in the MTU. Clearly, the arrest of President Anwar is a direct attempt by the South Korean government to repress the MTU and crackdown against migrant workers in South Korea. The recent repression by the South Korean government is not new. The government has consistently targeted migrant workers activists who have been arrested and deported. In 2003, many migrant workers were labeled as “terrorists” and forcibly deported. Samar Thapa, a key leader of the ETU-MB and the Myeong Dong sit-down demonstration was “kidnapped” in broad day light by immigration officials and deported in an effort to stop the mobilization efforts by migrant workers. Like all workers in South Korea, migrant workers should be treated with dignity and respect. Migrant workers should be guaranteed the same fundamental labor rights that are enjoyed by native workers. Despite the government crackdown and threats of deportation, the MTU will continue to organize and fight for the rights of migrant workers. On behalf of more than 400,000 workers in South Korea, MTU calls on the South Korean government to stop the crackdown against migrant workers and recognize the labor rights of migrant workers.

For more information, please visit their website: migrant.nodong.net/2005

"anarchists and koreans"...

Here's the link to a good story up at ZNET by Puck Lo on the protest hype that is occuring in Hong Kong over the specter of protests to come. Seems that there is a little inter-group demonization going on, in which police have spread paranoia of visiting "anarchists and koreans," with some protest groups echoing the police line and dismissing any tactics that could be construed as against the law -- such as blocking traffic or linking arms. Here's and excerpt:

Elizabeth Tang, a spokesperson for HPKA, has said that she understands that police have a job to do in making the WTO meeting a “safe event.” In her words: “If people are not genuine in this and want to use violence, then the police have a right to stop it.'Tang told reporters that she attended the Seattle WTO demonstrations in 1999 and that the “violent,” “radical actions” of some groups have marred the image of all protesters.“I'm really afraid that, in December, I'll go out in the street and be beaten up by the police, because some people will spoil the optimism and good mood that is so often associated with Hong Kong marches,' she continued.HPKA has appointed “marshals” to keep order during the protests. The marshals are told to isolate any group or person whose actions can be construed as potentially breaking any law or just seeming unruly. Many activists—both local organizers and those from abroad—absolutely disagree with Tang’s stance. Some express that the position that Tang is taking creates a false dichotomy where “tactics are then either legitimized by the government and completely ineffective in getting across anything beyond a most abstract message,’ or else if they are creative in any way then they are criminalized as being ‘violent’—even if it’s just a situation of people sitting in a road, linking arms. Then those people are left vulnerable to police attack since the others will be told: ‘They’re not legitimate, don’t support them.’”

I think Lo makes a good point here. The violence at the Seattle WTO started hours earlier than any anarchist actions and largely consisted of police violence against people locking arms. The non-violent shutdown of the city began at 5:30 am, and the anarchist reclaim the streets action, which later turned into the window breaking so feared by the media began at 11:11. Yet tear gas began around 7:30 am, hours earlier than anything resembling riot, with police shooting the stuff into nonviolent crowds for hours until windows began to break which could be used post facto as an excuse for the police violence. Yet, the next day, some progressive groups like global exchange and others blamed it on anarchist provacateurs, directly legitimizing the police line and demonizing other protestors indirectly, the vast majority of whom where simply blocking a road or holding hands.

Lo's article also has some links to other protest groups on the ground in Hong Kong which are quite useful. Also, here's a blog by a korean american group in Hong Kong to support the protests. Kotaji also has some recent Korean social movement news up on his site, including a good piece on recent protests there against base expansion.