Strikes and demonstrations by the south Korean working class
continued Monday for the sixth straight day. Rotating and unlimited
strikes by approximately one and a half million south Korean
workers began last Thursday in response to the fascist government's
new decrees amending the Labor Code and strengthening the
repressive National Security Law.
The strikes have particularly hit the industrial sectors of
car manufacturing, auto parts and shipbuilding and in the mass
transit systems of south Korea's largest cities. Most of these
workers are organized into the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
(KCTU) which is considered an "outlaw" union of workers not
recognized by the puppet regime in Seoul. The KCTU states that
300,000 of their members at 730 mainly industrial worksites will
continue the strike until the New Year and at that time the
leadership will assess the situation. Other members will
participate in rotating strikes and various means of protest.
Workers belonging to the legal government sanctioned
Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) mostly in the public
sector have also gone on strike in their hundreds of thousands,
either for one or two days or indefinitely. Both labor centrals
say they will assess the government's response in the New Year and
if the new Labor Decree is not rescinded they will consider an
indefinite general strike.
Last Thursday morning the puppet government called a secret
parliamentary session, excluding all opposition members, and passed
into law its decree on labor law, allowing mass layoffs and new
rules on work-time and further restricting trade union rights, and
another decree giving the state policing agencies new powers of
arbitrary arrest under the National Security Law. Prime Minister
Lee Soo-sung said the bills were "urgently needed to help the
nation's ailing economy and effectively cope with widespread
pro-North Korean elements in society." He complained of "high
production costs and labor problems" and growing support for
reunification with the north even within the army. He said that the
new laws had been promised upon south Korea's admission to the
imperialist Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
earlier this month.
Demonstrations and sit-down protests by workers and students
continued Monday throughout the south. There have been reports of
pitched battles in the streets of Seoul and other cities. The
fascist Kim Young-sam regime has declared illegal all street
demonstrations and has called out thousands of troops, tanks and
helicopters to enforce their fascist rule of law. Every subway
entrance in Seoul is guarded by a squad of over 20 armed troops.
Demonstrators have braved the severe repression, the
truncheons and tear gas, and have marched and demonstrated in their
tens of thousands. Banners, placards and headbands denouncing the
puppet regime are being boldly displayed throughout the south. Some
of the slogans reported in the streets and on the picket lines have
been: "Kim Young-sam betrayed us!" "Down with Kim Young-sam!"
"Fight the evil law!" and "Overthrow the Democracy-killing Kim
Young-sam Government!"
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
