CINA

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Two days ago(6.29) the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union(KTU) released following statement:

Entire Union Leadership Arrested!

17,000 teachers face punitive actions for signing petition critical

of Lee Myung-bak Administration

KTU president Jeong Jin-hoo along with 15 members of the central executive were taken by the police today. The union leaders had just finished a press conference near CheongWaDae (the Presidential House) in which they had voiced concern about the government's plans to discipline 17,000 teachers. After the conference, they had begun a march to the civil petition office of CheongWaDae in order to deliver a letter of protest to president Lee Myung-bak. On the way, the police stopped them and took them into custody.

On June 18th the KTU issued an emergency declaration critical of arbitrary state management. Over 17,000 teachers signed the declaration. The KTU published the teachers' names in the KTU newspaper. Since the death of the former president Roh Moo-hyun, there has been a number of similar emergency declarations by professors, students, and citizens. The KTU's declaration expressed the following: We are experiencing the retreat of Korean democracy. As a teacher, we are badly at a loss as to how to teach democracy to students. Under the current administration, the freedoms of the press, expression and assembly are under severe stress. The rights that are fundamental to civil society have been damaged. In the education sector, we have seen a sharp rise in citizens' private education costs, the reinforcement of competitive education, and the destruction of public education. The KTU demands the security of students' basic human rights, the democratic management of schools, and the stop of competition-oriented education policies.

On June 26th the Lee Myung-bak administration announced that it was going to take punitive actions against all the teachers who joined the signature campaign. The government declared the campaign illegal because, it argued, the campaign violated the Civil Servants Law and Teachers Union Act which ban political activities of teachers and collective action. It also said that it was a "clear violation as civil servants" not to follow the government's order. Punitive actions are to include the dismissal of 10 KTU Central Executive members, including the KTU president. 78 KTU provincial leaders and full-time staff will be suspended, the administration said.

The KTU (JeonGyoJo) strongly condemns the arrest of its leadership and urges their immediate release. The freedom to be critical of government policy and the freedom to express one's beliefs are fundamental human rights, protected by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The KTU feels that the administration is clearly abusing its authority.

The KTU will issue another emergency statement and vows to fight for the freedom of expression, and against the government's unilateral punitive actions. The KTU, alongside teacher organizations throughout the world, will continue to support basic human rights, the freedom of expression, and democracy.

http://english.eduhope.net/news/hwang290609.htm