26개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Yesterday's Hankyoreh reported the following about the latest (unpleasant) developments connected with the Duriban Sit-in Struggle:
Electricity cut off at Hongdae redevelopment protest site
The redevelopment company targeted the building for demolishment and cut the building’s electricity cable
Today's (protest) press conference in front of Duriban sit-in struggle/squat site
“Cutting off someone’s electricity in the middle of summer is a death sentence. We have lit dozens of candles, but it leaves us worrying about fire, and the corners that the candlelight cannot reach smell.”
It is July 28, and the kalguksu noodle restaurant “Duriban,” in the Hongik University (Hongdae) neighborhood, has gone without electricity for eight consecutive days. Its struggle with heat and darkness continues. As the site of a sit-in by local artists and civic activists opposing redevelopment in the Hongdae area that has been going for 210 days so far, Duriban has become known as “Little Yongsan,” an allusion to the disaster involving people made homeless by redevelopment in the Yongsan area last year.
On July 21 Namjeon D&C, the company carrying out the redevelopment in the area, cut the electricity cable leading to Duriban, saying that it was “stealing electricity from the neighboring construction site.”
Duriban had been temporarily using an electricity cable from a nearby subway construction site, with consent, after the redevelopment company removed electrical wiring in order to demolish the building.
The electricity was forcibly cut off, while Korea Electric Power Corporation’s (KEPCO) attitude was that forcible execution had taken place and that it was therefore unable to restore the supply.
As a result, more than 10 activists have been holding an indefinite sit-in protest at Mapo District Office since July 26. Ahn Jong-nyeo, owner of Duriban and head of a task force for victims of home demolition in the Donggyo neighborhood, urged the local ward office to solve the problem. Ahn said that when the electricity was cut off to an inhabited place, the people there should be designated as eligible to be provided with electricity as a basic living necessity, even if they had no money.
In response, Mapo District Office sent an official document to KEPCO demanding cooperation, while KEPCO stated that the electricity meter had been removed from the building last year following a legal request from the construction company and that the issue of restoring the electricity supply was a complicated one. It said it would conduct a legal examination and reach a quick decision.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/432649.html
For more detailed info (sorry, only in Korean!) please check out:
Seoul: Sit-in Struggle against the crackdown in the name of the G-20
The Migrants' Trade Union (MTU) has been conducting a sit-in protest at Hyangrin Church in Myeongdong since July 13 to protest the South Korean government’s unjust crackdown against undocumented migrant workers.
MTU’s President began a hunger strike on July 25.
This act is an earnest call for an end to the criminalization of and repression against undocumented migrants’ rights. We ask for you solidarity and support.
MTU's Third Report (the 2nd you can read here):
* July 21 (Wednesday)
This morning we participated in a press conference calling for cancellation of the layoff of irregular workers by the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup), which was held in front of the Nonghyup office near Seodaemun Station. As always, Nonghyup still refuses to guarantee the rights of irregular workers. In addition, they fired the Branch Leader of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation Branch of the Korean Clerical Workers Union for Solidarity, using the end of his contract as an excuse. We showed our solidarity for the workers’ struggle and raised our voices in protest.
In the afternoon, we participated in a mass rally held by KCTU in Jonggak. Despite the heat many workers gathered to protest democratic unionism and show their resolve to continue their struggle in the second half of the year. At this protest we handed out flyers criticizing the crackdown on undocumented migrants and calling for support for our sit-in protest.
* July 23 (Friday)
The President of MTU gave a solidarity speech at the Students’ Alterglobalization Forum. We also made a call for greater attention to and support for the rights of migrant workers during a session migrant workers’ human and labor rights. In the afternoon Filipino workers visited us for counseling and advice. One of the workers was pregnant and hoping to get an extension of the time allowed for finding new work. Her problem was that the Job Center refused to grant her more time because her three-year residence period would soon end. In the evening we participated in a memorial service for Samsung Electronics workers who had died due to industrial accidents and passed out leaflets.
* July 24 (Saturday)
We participated in a conference on Marxism. MTU’s President gave a lecture on the situation of migrant workers. After the lecture there was a lively discussion and participants carried out street outreach and fundraising for our struggle against the crackdown.
In the evening we had a cultural event with MTU members. We gave a report about the sit-in and our future plans. There were also many performances. We learned a Filipino movement song and watched a dance performed by members of the sit-in protest. We also played fun games and generally had a good time.
* July 25 (Sunday)
This was the first day of the MTU President’s hunger strike. We participated in a Rally against the Crackdown on Undocumented Migrant Workers held by Daegu Migrants Solidarity Group, KCTU Northern Gyeongsan Regional Council, Norther Gyeongsan General Union and Gyeongsan Migrant Workers Center.
Despite the hot weather, any migrant workers from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines, China and Indonesia participated. The MTU President gave a solidarity speech in which he noted that we must strengthen solidarity among all workers who are oppressed if we are to win respect for our rights. At the end of the protest participants threw water balloons in a symbolic act. After the protest we had a meeting with migrant workers from the Daegu area. The Daegu migrant workers resolved to carry out various actions to protest the crackdown.
*July 26 (Monday)
This was the 14thday of the sit-in protest and the second day of the President’s hunger strike. During the day roughly 15 lawyers and trainees from the organization Minbyun visited our protest sit and expressed their solidarity. They said they would continue activities to support our struggle. In the afternoon we participated in a protest held by the National Street Vendors Conferdation and gave a solidarity speech.
Several officers from KCTU Seoul Regional Council also visited us, as did comrades from the National Alliance of Irregular Workers Unions and members form the “Do Something to Stop the Crackdown” group.
http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=29684#1
Daegu: Since almost 10 days the concentrated struggle against the "G-20 Crackdown" is still going on!
Last week Japan's so-called "Training Program" for migrant workers - comparable to the S. Korean "ITS"(*), we were fighting against for years... - became an object of special attention by some US media.
Last Wednesday's NYTimes published the following coverage:
"Training Program" Is Said to Exploit Migrant Workers
Six young Chinese women arrived in this historic city three summers ago, among the tens of thousands of apprentices brought to Japan each year on the promise of job training, good pay and a chance at a better life back home.
Instead, the women say, they were subjected to 16-hour workdays assembling cell phones at below the minimum wage, with little training of any sort, all under the auspices of a government-approved “foreign trainee” program that critics call industrial Japan’s dirty secret.
“My head hurt, my throat stung,” said Zhang Yuwei, 23, who operated a machine that printed cell phone keypads, battling fumes that she said made the air so noxious that managers would tell Japanese employees to avoid her work area.
Ms. Zhang says she was let go last month after her employer found that she and five compatriots had complained to a social worker about their work conditions. A Japanese lawyer is now helping the group sue their former employer, seeking back pay and damages totaling $207,000.
Critics say foreign trainees have become an exploited source of cheap labor in a country with one of the world’s most rapidly aging populations and lowest birthrates. All but closed to immigration, Japan faces an acute labor shortage, especially for jobs at the country’s hardscrabble farms or small family-run factories.
“The mistreatment of trainees appears to be widespread,” said Shoichi Ibusuki, a human rights lawyer based in Tokyo.
From across Asia, about 190,000 trainees — migrant workers in their late teens to early 30s — now toil in factories and farms in Japan. They have been brought to the country, in theory, to learn technical expertise under an international aid program started by the Japanese government in the 1990s.
For businesses, the government-sponsored trainee program has offered a loophole to hiring foreign workers. But with little legal protection, the indentured work force is exposed to substandard, sometimes even deadly, working conditions, critics say.
Government records show that at least 127 of the trainees have died since 2005 — or one of about every 2,600 trainees, which experts say is a high death rate for young people who must pass stringent physicals to enter the program. Many deaths involved strokes or heart failure that worker rights groups attribute to the strain of excessive labor.
The Justice Ministry found more than 400 cases of mistreatment of trainees at companies across Japan in 2009, including failing to pay legal wages and exposing trainees to dangerous work conditions. This month, labor inspectors in central Japan ruled that a 31-year-old Chinese trainee, Jiang Xiaodong, had died from heart failure induced by overwork.
Under pressure by human rights groups and a string of court cases, the government has begun to address some of the program’s worst abuses. The United Nations has urged Japan to scrap it altogether.
After one year of training, during which the migrant workers receive subsistence pay below the minimum wage, trainees are allowed to work for two more years in their area of expertise at legal wage levels. But interviews with labor experts and a dozen trainees indicate that the foreign workers seldom achieve those pay rates.
On paper, the promised pay still sounds alluring to the migrant workers. Many are from rural China, where per-capita disposable income can be as low as $750 a year. To secure a spot in the program, would-be trainees pay many times that amount in fees and deposits to local brokers, sometimes putting up their homes as collateral — which can be confiscated if trainees quit early or cause trouble.
The Japan International Training Cooperation Organization, or Jitco, which operates the program, said it was aware some companies had abused the system and that it was taking steps to crack down on the worst cases. The organization plans to ensure that “trainees receive legal protection, and that cases of fraud are eliminated,” Jitco said in a written response to questions.
Ms. Zhang says she paid $8,860 to a broker in her native Hebei Province for a spot in the program. She was assigned to a workshop run by Modex-Alpha, which assembles cellphones sold by Sharp and other electronics makers. Ms. Zhang said her employer demanded her passport and housed her in a cramped apartment with no heat, alongside five other trainees.
In her first year, Ms. Zhang worked eight-hour days and received $660 a month after various deductions, according to her court filing — about $3.77 an hour, or less than half the minimum wage level in Hiroshima. Moreover, all but $170 a month was forcibly withheld by the company as savings, and paid out only after Ms. Zhang pushed the company for the full amount, she said.
In her second year, her monthly wage rose to about $1,510 — or $7.91 an hour, according to her filing. That was still lower than the $8.56 minimum wage for the electronics industry in Hiroshima. And her employers withheld all but $836 a month for her accommodations and other expenses, according to her filing.
And as her wages went up, so did her hours, she said, to as many as 16 a day, five to six days a week. Modex-Alpha declined to comment on Ms. Zhang’s account, citing her lawsuit against the company.
As part of the government’s effort to clean up the program, beginning July 1, minimum wage and other labor protections have for the first time been applied to first-year workers. The government has also banned the confiscating of trainees’ passports.
But experts say it will be hard to change the program’s culture.
Economic strains are also a factor. Although big companies like Toyota and Mazda have moved much of their manufacturing to China to take advantage of low wages there, smaller businesses have found that impossible — and yet are still pressured to drive down costs.
“If these businesses hired Japanese workers, they would have to pay,” said Kimihiro Komatsu, a labor consultant in Hiroshima. “But trainees work for a bare minimum,” he said. “Japan can’t afford to stop.”
For almost three years, Catherine Lopez, 28, a trainee from Cebu, the Philippines, has worked up to 14 hours a day, sometimes six days a week, welding parts at a supplier for the Japanese carmaker Mazda. She receives as little as $1,574 a month, or $7.91 an hour — below the $8.83 minimum wage for auto workers in Hiroshima.
Ms. Lopez says Japanese managers at the supplier, Kajiyama Tekko, routinely hurl verbal abuses at her cohort of six trainees, telling them to follow orders or “swim back to the Philippines.”
“We came to Japan because we want to learn advanced technology,” Ms. Lopez said.
Yukari Takise, a manager at Kajiyama Tekko, denied the claims. “If they don’t like it here,” she said, “they can go home.”
But after inquiries by a reporter for The New York Times, a company that organizes the trainee program in Hiroshima, Ateta Japan, said it had advised Kajiyama Tekko to recalculate the wages it pays foreign trainees and ordered it to grant the vacation days owed to the trainees.
“They may have pushed the trainees too hard,” said Hideki Matsunishi, Ateta’s president. “But you must also feel sympathy for the companies, who are all struggling in this economy.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/business/global/21apprentice.html
Related video:
☞ Japan: Training or Exploitation? (CNN, 7.22)
* In South Korea, the Industrial Trainee System (ITS) is a common source of cheap and docile labour. This system is inherently systematic in its exploitation and abuse of migrant workers. The ITS only guarantees migrant workers a three-year legal stay in Korea, but as a trainee not a legal worker. After three years, the 'trainees' must go back to their country. As trainees, they have no 'legal' rights and bargaining power with employers; neither do they receive protection from local unions or state regulatory bodies because they are not 'legitimate' workers, even though they perform the same jobs as regular workers. Migrant workers are mainly employed in small factories as trainees with labour intensive production, they have to perform the so-called 3-D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) jobs with very low payment (around US$ 350 per month), long working hours and no labour rights. They are not allowed to join unions. Despite frequent industrial accidents, they are not entitled to compensation. In fact, the ITS is a kind of modern slavery. It is no wonder that migrant workers (trainees) run away from their work and become undocumented workers. Around 80 percent of all foreign workers remain in South Korea illegal migrants. (Asian Human Rights Commission, Jan. 2004)
Today's "top story" in the int'l (at least 'western') media:
A huge cache of secret US military files provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how "coalition forces" have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.
The disclosures come from more than 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict obtained by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks ("The Afghanistan War Diary") in one of the biggest leaks in US military history. The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the fighting over the last six years...
Their publication comes amid mounting concern that Barack Obama's "surge" strategy is failing...
The war logs also detail:
• How a secret "black" unit of special forces hunts down Taliban leaders for "kill or capture" without trial.
• How the US covered up evidence that the Taliban have acquired deadly surface-to-air missiles.
• How the coalition is increasingly using deadly Reaper drones to hunt and kill Taliban targets by remote control from a base in Nevada.
• How the Taliban have caused growing carnage with a massive escalation of their roadside bombing campaign, which has killed more than 2,000 civilians to date...
But while the war logs/diary shows the true face of the war in Afghanistan the White House (surprise, surprise!) is attacking WikiLeaks, according to today's Spiegel online edition...
For more detailed info please check out Guardian's special section "Afghanistan War Logs" or WikiLeaks' "Afghanistan War Diary"!
According to yesterday's top news story in the S. Korean and int'l media the regime in Pyongyang is threatening with a Nuclear Jihad (i.e. 'retaliatory sacred war'/K. Herald: "North Korea warns of 'revengeful holy war'") as you can see in the following examples...
Yonhap: "N.Korea threatens to use nukes against ROK-US joint naval drills"
AP: "NKorea Vows Nuclear Response To US-SKorea Drills"
Al-Jazeera: "N. Korea threatens 'sacred war'"
And here you can 'enjoy' the source (via KCNA) of yesterday's headlines:
NDC: Counter US-S. Korea War Exercises with Nuclear Deterrence
The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces finally went into reckless actions against the DPRK after having frantically pushed ahead with the moves to stifle the DPRK under the pretext of the "Cheonan" case.
A spokesman for the DPRK National Defence Commission issued a statement on Saturday clarifying the principled stand of the army and people of the DPRK in this regard.
It said: The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces are planning to stage joint naval exercises in the East Sea of Korea from July 25 to 28, the "Ulji Freedom Guardian" joint exercises and joint anti-submarine exercises in the West Sea of Korea from August 16 to 26 and different ceaseless joint naval exercises from late in August to early in September and other drills. All these war maneuvers are nothing but outright provocations aimed to stifle the DPRK by force of arms to all intents and purposes.
If the publication of the results of investigation into the "Cheonan" case which was faked up by the U.S. imperialists at instigation of their puppet forces was the first reckless military provocation to the DPRK, the joint naval maneuvers they are to stage even with nuclear strike means involved under the pretext of the above-said case amount to an unpardonable second military provocation to the DPRK, the statement noted, and continued:
The chief architect of the warship case seems to send a "message as deterrence" to somebody while staging offensive exercises under the pretext of the forged case after falsifying its truth. This is as reckless an act as waking up a sleeping tiger.
The DPRK National Defence Commission re-clarifies the following principled stand as regards this abnormal situation where the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces are threatening this land with a nuclear war under the pretext of the "Cheonan" case:
The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces.
The more desperately the U.S. imperialists brandish their nukes and the more zealously their lackeys follow them, the more rapidly the DPRK's nuclear deterrence will be bolstered up along the orbit of self-defence and the more remote the prospect for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be become.
The army and people of the DPRK will start a retaliatory sacred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent any time necessary in order to counter the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war.
Now that the U.S. imperialists are persisting in their direct military provocations in gross violation of the spirit of the September 19 joint statement in which they promised not to attack or invade the DPRK with either nuclear or conventional weapons, it is a natural option of the army and people of the DPRK to take corresponding all-out retaliatory measures.
The army and people of the DPRK will take all steps to the last to thoroughly probe the truth behind the case under the situation where the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces persistently and deliberately link the DPRK with the "Cheonan" case.
It is a legitimate and sovereign right to protect the honor and dignity of the DPRK for them to probe the truth about the despicable "fabrication" and "charade."
The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces will keenly realize what high price they will have to pay for their reckless military provocation rendering the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the worst phase under the pretext of the "Cheonan" case.
http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201007/news24/20100724-01ee.html
Related articles:
☞ Joint military exercise begins in East Sea (Korea Herald, 7.25)
☞ US and S Korea begin joint drill (al-Jazeera, 7.25)
☞ S Korea-US military exercise begins in the Sea of Japan (BBC, 7.25)
Today's Hankyoreh published the following report:
Environmental activists begin sit-in at Four Rivers sites
The Lee administration has forged ahead with the project during the rainy season despite widespread opposition and safety concerns
Calling for an end to the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, major leaders from local chapters of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) carried out a surprise occupation Thursday morning of the Ipo Weir site on the Han River and the Haman Weir site on the Nakdong River.
At around 5 a.m. Thursday, Busan KFEM Secretary General Choi Soo-young and Jinju KFEM Secretary General Lee Hwan-moon used a rubber boat to enter the Haman Weir construction site in Gilgok Township, Changnyeong County, South Gyeongsang Province.
They subsequently took over a 40-meter crane installed at the site. The Korea Water Resources Corporation had dismantled most of the equipment in anticipation of heavy rains on July 16 and 17, but the crane was not taken down because it was deemed to present no safety issues.
Meanwhile, at around 3:25 a.m. the same morning, Seoul KFEM Secretary General Yum Hyung-cheol, Suwon KFEM Secretary General Jang Dong-bin, and Goyang KFEM Executive Committee Chairman Park Pyeong-su began an occupation atop the skirt board of the 30-meter fifth column of Ipo Weir in Daesin Township, Yeoju County, located in Han River Zone 3.
During a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh, Yeom, who had brought food, water, and gasoline for a generator to the indefinite occupation, said that the KFEM “opted for an occupation because we could no longer sit by and watch the irrational and anti-ecological destruction of life.”
“The government needs to halt the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project before it is too late, and establish a pan-societal discussion body to find alternatives and solutions,” Yeom said.
Following the occupation Thursday morning, the KFEM formally called upon the Lee Myung-bak administration to immediately halt the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, establish a body for citizen dialogue, and form a special committee within the National Assembly to examine the project.
“The government has merely been entrusted with authority, yet it is disregarding the objections of a majority of South Koreans and pushing forward with the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project,” said KFEM Secretary General Kim Jong-nam, visiting the site of occupation at Ipo Weir. “As the representative public servant, Mr. Lee Myung-bak needs to pursue true dialogue with the people, the ones who hold real sovereignty.”
An advertisement installed at the top of Ipo Weir bearing the words “Yeoju’s Landmark Weir” was covered up Thursday with a large banner reading “Leave the Four Rivers Alone,” and the occupiers also put up a banner reading “SOS 4 RIVERS” in English. The occupiers on Ipo Weir cut off a makeshift path connecting with the weir in order to prevent others from entering. About 50 civic group members from the Busan and South Gyeongsang area held a candlelight demonstration at 7:30 Thursday evening in front of the Haman Weir construction site, where they called for a halt to the Four Major Rivers Project.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/431769.html
Last week MTU (Migrants' Trade Union) started a sit-in struggle against the ongoing crackdown campaign in the name of coming G-20 Summit in Seoul, S. Korea.
We are not criminals! We are not terrorists!
Sit-in protest against crackdown on undocumented
migrant workers in the name of G-20
First Report (by MTU, 7.20)
* In June the South Korean government began a concentrated crackdown on undocumented migrant workers, claiming this measure is necessary to ensure the successful holding of the G20 Summit in November. The government says the crackdown will go on until the end of August. All around the country the Immigration Service, the Ministry of Labor and the police are carrying out raids and stopping people on the streets. Everyday dozens of people suffer because of this inhumane policy of arrest and deportation. As if this is not enough, the government is even forcing detained migrants to pay a fine of up to 2 million won, furthering their troubles. At some immigration offices the fine is being taken out of back wages sent to detained migrant workers without their consent. This is clearly an illegal act. First crackdown, then fines... Forcing this double burden on migrants is a severe form of oppression.
There are also cases of violent treatment. For example, a Chinese migrant worker was beaten after being taken to the office of the Suwon Immigration Service.
To protest against this policy of arrest and deportation, the Migrants' Trade Union began a sit-in protest in Hyang-rin Church in the Myeongdong district on July 13.
Although there are not many of us participating in the sit-in many people, including activists from overseas, came to our opening ceremony to show solidarity and support.
We wish to express our sincere gratitude to all those who participated.
http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=29372#0
*****
Protest against mass crackdown on the undocumented
migrant workers in S. Korea!
Dear friends and allies,
Migrants' Trade Union (MTU) sends you warm greetings and solidarity. We are writing to inform you of very upsetting events taking place in South Korea and to ask for your support.
South Koreais currently preparing to host the G20 Summit in November. The government of Lee Myung-bak is using the upcoming event as an excuse to enforce policies that trample on basic democratic rights. In particular, the Lee administration is using the G20 Summit as a pretext for carrying out a massive crackdown against undocumented migrant workers currently residing in the country.
For many years now, migrant workers have worked in South Korea's small and medium-size factories, playing an important role by supporting South Korean industry. Undocumented migrant workers, who have often lived in Korea longer than their documented colleagues, have become especially accustom to Korean culture and lived together with Korean citizens as part of Korean society.
Despite the fact that the Korean government brings thousands of migrant workers to Korea to fill labor shortages in small and medium-size companies, it will not allow them to legally settle or invite their families to live with them. Refusing to sight the UN Convention on the Protect of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Family, which promises basic protections for migrant workers' human rights, the South Korean government treats migrant workers only as cheap and disposable labor. The government's sole policy towards undocumented migrant workers has been one of viscous raids, detention and deportation, which has lead to countless injuries and deaths. Every year, migrant workers lose their lives in the course of the government's crackdown.
This year, the government is using the G20 Summit as an excuse to openly strengthening the policy of raids, detention and deportation. Since May, the police have been carrying out a 'crackdown on foreigner crime', stopping people on the street for no reason other than that they appear to be foreign. The government has said it plans to get rid of South Korea's 180,000 undocumented migrant workers by the end of August.
In response, labor and social justice organizations are joining forces to oppose this anti-human rights, anti-labor policy, and carry out a united struggle to protect migrant workers' rights.
We ask for your support and solidarity as we move forward with our struggle. Please send letters of protest to the South Korean government expressing your grave concern about its repression against migrant workers. A sample letter is attached for your reference.
Your solidarity is an important part of a wider effort to protect the rights of South Korea's migrant workers. We will work hard to keep you informed of the situation here in Korea. We ask for your sincere attention and support.
July 4th, 2010
A Sample Protest Letter you'll find here!
The following is the full text of the joint statement issued today by the foreign and "defense" ministers of S.Korea(ROK) and the United States (source: Yonhap):
ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan and Minister of National Defense Kim Tae-young, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates met in Seoul on July 21, 2010, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, which gave birth to the ROK-U.S. Alliance.
The Ministers reflected on the shared sacrifice and dedication to defend freedom and democracy during the Korean War, and acknowledged that the ROK-U.S. Alliance has promoted peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula, but also in Northeast Asia, and has evolved into a strong, successful and enduring alliance.
They also noted the historic significance of the Joint Vision for the Alliance of the Republic of Korea and the United States of America adopted by the two leaders in June 2009 and pledged to continue to advance alliance cooperation bilaterally, regionally, and globally.
The Ministers reaffirmed the mutual responsibilities and steadfast commitments of the two countries founded on the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty, which has served as the bedrock of the allied partnership. They committed to maintain a robust combined defense posture capable of deterring and defeating any and all North Korean threats, including through recently announced bilateral plans to conduct a series of joint military exercises over the coming months in the ROK and off the east and west coasts of the Korean Peninsula. They also pledged to develop the alliance's vision for future defense cooperation.
In support of their Presidents' recent decision, the Ministers also decided to complete a new plan, Strategic Alliance 2015, by this year's Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), including the transition of wartime Operational Control (OPCON) to the ROK military in December 2015. The transition of wartime OPCON is to proceed through close coordination between the two countries to sustain and enhance the Alliance's combined defense posture and capabilities.
The Ministers welcomed the UN Security Council Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2010/13) on July 9, 2010 condemning the attack by North Korea, which led to the sinking of the Cheonan. They shared the view that such an irresponsible military provocation poses a grave threat to peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the region. The Ministers urged North Korea to take responsibility for the attack. They also called upon North Korea to refrain from further attacks or hostilities against the ROK and underscored that there would be serious consequences for any such irresponsible behavior.
The Ministers urged North Korea to abandon all its nuclear programs and its pursuit of nuclear weapons in a complete and verifiable manner, and to demonstrate its genuine will for denuclearization with concrete actions. They also urged North Korea to improve human rights conditions and living standards for its people in cooperation with the international community.
Building on the June 2009 Joint Vision, the Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to broaden and deepen the scope of Alliance cooperation. They shared the view that growing political, economic, social, scientific, technological, and cultural bilateral cooperation will increase the mutual understanding and respect between our citizens on the basis of common values and trust. They also committed to work together more closely and comprehensively at the regional and global levels.
Reaffirming the utmost importance of the KORUS FTA, they pledged to work towards ratification as discussed by the two Presidents in Toronto last month. They also pledged to work towards a new ROK-U.S. Agreement for Cooperation on Civil Uses of Atomic Energy in a mutually beneficial way in order to meet the challenges of climate change and energy security in the future.
Furthermore, the Ministers welcomed the close mutual cooperation on a wide range of issues within regional frameworks including the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and committed to work closely together to further promote peace, stability and prosperity in the region. They also discussed the Northeast Asia regional security environment and ways the Alliance can evolve to address new challenges in this dynamic region.
Meanwhile, the Ministers exchanged ideas about ways to meet the global challenges of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, financial crisis, transnational crimes, climate change, epidemic disease, energy security, and promotion of green growth, and decided to continue joint efforts in this regard. They also exchanged views about how development assistance can increase stability and security, and decided to increase coordination of development assistance programs around the world to help achieve our shared goals.
The Ministers shared the view that they would draw on the lessons learned through the rebuilding of the ROK in the decades following the devastating Korean War to strengthen cooperative efforts for stability and reconstruction in Afghanistan, and around the world. The U.S. side welcomed the ROK's sending of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to Afghanistan, and the ROK side reaffirmed its determination to support security, governance, and development in Afghanistan. They also welcomed ROK-U.S. coordination and cooperation in other areas including the efforts to combat piracy near the Horn of Africa and peacekeeping efforts in Haiti.
The Ministers noted the two countries share mutual views on how to face global challenges, as evidenced by the United States previously hosting the Nuclear Security Summit and the G20 summit, and the ROK hosting these events in the future.
The Ministers concurred that today's Foreign and Defense Ministers' Meeting was very productive and useful, and decided to hold foreign and defense officials' meetings at the deputy minister/assistant secretary level. They also pledged to continue to develop the existing ministerial consultations of Strategic Consultation for Allied Partnership (SCAP) and Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) and to consider holding further Foreign and Defense Ministers' meetings, as necessary.
Related articles:
☞ US announces fresh North Korea sanctions (Guardian, 7.21)
☞ Korea, US vow combined defense (Korea Times, 7.21)
☞ US imposes new sanctions on N. Korea (al-Jazeera, 7.21)
Today in front of Seoul's Myeong-dong Cathedral: A coalition of organized migrant workers, street vendors and homeless people held a press conference to protest against the planned/already ongoing pre-G20 crackdown campaign by the LMB administration.
A call to join the struggle against the pre-G20 crackdown campaign is supported by many civil/human rights organisations, trade unions, ('left') political parties and resistance groups, e.g. the Buddhist Solidarity to Protect Human rights, KCTU, DLP, National Alliance of Evictees etc. (*)
Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following about the press conference:
Migrant workers decry crackdown
Michel, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, speaks during a press conference
condemning the government’s crackdown on migrant workers, street vendors
and the homeless in front of Myeongdong Cathedral
Black balloons bearing messages against the G20 summit scheduled in November were popped in protest by migrant workers, street vendors and homeless people, showing their objection to the government’s recent clampdown before the big international event.
Civic groups against the government’s oppression of human rights of social minorities held a press conference Tuesday in front of Myeongdong Cathedral.
The government said it would clamp down on unregistered foreigners until August as part of its efforts to boost security ahead of the G20 summit. However, migrant workers organizations refuted the idea as it condemned all unregistered international residents as possible terrorists.
Michel from the Philippines, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, said the government should protect minorities such as migrant workers, street vendors and the homeless.
“The Korean government is using the G20 summit as an excuse to attack minorities,” he said. “We want the government to end their oppression. Stop the crackdown!”
Lee Young, executive secretary of the Joint Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea, said the government considers these socially weak people as potential criminals and wants to expel them under the name of the G20 summit.
“If Korea wants to be a real multicultural society, it should provide stronger social safety nets and promote social integration. However, the government encourages social conflict, not unification,” Lee said.
The Homeless Action and the Korea Street Vendors Confederation also opposed the government’s plan.
Afterward, they started campaigning on the streets of Myeong-dong against the crackdown.
A passing citizen who read their brochure said he was too ignorant regarding the G20 summit.
“I didn’t know the government was driving these people out of the country due to the sake of hosting the G20,” he said. “I couldn’t understand why people protested against the G20 in Pittsburgh, PA., last year. But now I understand that the G20 summit has some dark sides as well.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/07/117_69827.html
Related reports:
☞ 부자 살리는 ‘G20’ 때문에 없는 사람들 내쫓아 (NewsCham, 7.20)
☞ “‘이주노동자, 노점상, 노숙인’ 단속 중단하라” (KCTU, 7.20)
☞ "G-20이 뭐라고 우리를 몰아내나요?" (OMN, 7.20)
☞ G20을 빌미로 한 단속추방 반대 농성 두번째 소식 (MTU)
* 주최 : 이주노동자권리지킴이, 한국불교종단협의회인권위원회, 공익변호사그룹공감, 구속노동자후원회, 노동자의힘, 다함께, 문화연대, 민주노동당, 민주노동당서울시당, 민주사회를위한변호사모임노동위원회, 민주주의법학연구회, 민주화를위한교수협의회, 불안정노동철폐연대, 건강권실현을위한보건의료단체연합, 사회진보연대, 서울경기인천이주노동자노동조합, 이주노동자인권연대, 이주노동자운동후원회, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국철거민연합, 학생행동연대, 한국비정규노동센터, 전국비정규노조연대회의, 인권단체연석회의, 노동사회과학연구소, 노동전선, 노동해방학생연대, 대학생사람연대, 성동광진이주노동자인권지킴이, 전국빈민연합, 전국학생행진, 전국해고노동자자복직위원회, 진보신당, 이주노동자의방송(MWTV), 외국인이주 노동운동협의회)
빈곤사회연대(공공노조 사회복지지부, 관악주민연대, 광진주민연대, 금융피해자연대 해오름, 노들장애인야간학교, 노숙당사자모임한울타리회, 대학생사람연대, 동자동사랑방, 민주노동당, 민주노동자연대, 민주노총, 민주화를위한전국교수협의회, 반빈곤네트워크(대구), 반빈곤센터(부산), 사회당, 사회주의노동자정당건설준비위원회, 사회진보연대, 서울복지시민연대, 성공회나눔의집협의회, 성동장애인자립생활센터, 성북장애인자립생활센터, 장애여성공감, 전국공무원노동조합, 전국불안정노동철폐연대, 전국빈민연합(빈민해방철거민연합‧전국노점상총연합), 전국장애인차별철폐연대, 전국학생행진, 전국철거민연합, 정태수열사추모사업회, 주거권실현을위한국민연합, 주거권실현을위한비닐하우스주민연합, 중랑장애인자립생활센터, 진보신당, 천주교빈민사목위원회, 천주교인권위원회, 최옥란열사추모사업회, 한국백혈병환우회, 한국빈곤문제연구소, 향린교회, 현장실천사회변혁노동자전선, 홈리스행동)
노점노동연대 / 민주노점상전국연합 / 전국노점상총연합 / 인권운동사랑방 / 진보신당 서울시당
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