5112개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
The Sit-in strike by "irregular" workers of Hyundai Motor (today is the 24th day of their struggle!!) shows no signs of concluding because the Seoul-based carmaker has failed to solve the problems through discussions. The striking workers (hired by subcontractors), who have occupied buildings at the corporation’s plants in Ulsan since Nov. 15, want to become regular employees of Hyundai Motor based on full-time contracts.
Today's Hankyoreh published (strangely under "art&entertainment") the following piece about the strike's current situation:
Watershed for Hyundai sit-in
Around 400 in-house contractors of Hyundai Motor Co. met another dawn with stiff bodies on Tuesday, the 23rd day of sit-in strike demanding regular workers’ status.
Determination
The Hyundai No. 1 Factory in Ulsan they occupied has turned into ‘cold wintery island’ as company has cut off access to the strikers, in addition to cutting off access to electricity and water.
Sleeping curled up
The biggest pains reported by strikers are not the cold or isolation, but starvation. Three contractors fell down from malnutrition and some 100 contractors gave up until Dec. 7 because they entered the sit-in without any preparation...
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/452767.html
Today in the morning(KST) about 45,000 regular unionists of Hyundai Motor - orgainzed in the KCTU/KMWU - voted on whether or not to support the strike by irregular workers (they're also organized in KCTU!!). The results will be released tomorrow afternoon(KST).
In its latest editorial The Hankyoreh(12.08) demanded: "Hyundai motor union should support striking irregular workers". But today's (bourgeois) Korea Times predicts: "The chances are that they will vote against the idea"...
Related articles:
☞ UAW rallies for Hyundai strikers in Korea (Automakers, 12.06)
☞ Hyundai fails to bring plant back online (K. Herald, 12.06)
☞ Why Hyundai Motor can’t fix deal with irregular workers (K. Times, 12.08)
Nat'l 'Human Rights' Commission = New Hawk Entity
Today's Yonhap reported the following:
Rights panel recommends resuming anti-Pyongyang propaganda
South Korea's state human rights agency approved a recommendation for the government to resume anti-North Korea propaganda, officials said Tuesday, as tension was running high after the North's shelling on a South Korean island.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)'s plenary committee in a meeting Monday adopted the recommendation in a 6-2 vote, saying the government needs to show the people of the reclusive North Korea the real outside world "through all means possible."
The recommendation urges the government to resume broadcasts through loudspeakers at the border with North Korea and to encourage the sending of leaflets into the North denouncing its leader and regime.
"I cannot overlook the realities of North Koreans' life," NHRC chairman Hyun Byung-chul said. "We have to deal with human rights in North Korea and provide North Koreans with information so that they can think and judge."
The move came as tensions spiked on the Korean Peninsula from the North's deadly Nov. 23 artillery strike on a South Korean border island, killing four people, including two civilians.
The recommendation, proposed by six of nine commissioners, was passed at a second attempt after an earlier one was left undecided since June. Opponents at the time had argued against fueling already high cross-border tensions from the sinking of a South Korean warship in March blamed on the North. They also said it was beyond the NHRC's role to take a position on anti-Pyongyang propaganda.
Liberal members of the plenary committee on Monday still questioned the efficacy of the commission's latest decision.
"The recommendation lacks concrete measures, and it is questionable whether it can produce an effective outcome as North Korea blocks all information," a dissenting opinion said...
Loudspeakers are designed so that the broadcasts can be heard up to 24 kilometers into North Korea at night and 10km during the day. Pyongyang has consistently warned that it will shoot down the loudspeakers if the broadcasts resume...
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2010/12/07/23/0302000000AEN20101207007100315F.HTML
The S. Korean National Human Rights Commission/NHCR was established, according to its self-conception as a "national advocacy institution for human rights protection. It is committed to the fulfillment of human rights in a broader sense, including dignity, value and freedom of every human being, as signified in international human rights conventions and treaties to which Korea is a signatory".
Article 1 of the National Human Rights Commission Act: "The purpose of this Act is to contribute to the embodiment of human dignity and worth as well as to the safeguard of the basic order of democracy, by establishing the National Human Rights Commission to ensure that inviolable, fundamental human rights of all individuals are protected and the standards of human rights are improved."
But when you read the following two news reports you'll find out that the (current) reality is complete different!!
1. Today's Yonhap report (via Korea Herald):
Rights body draws fire over disabled protesters
The state human rights watchdog has come under fire for recently asking police to forcibly quell a sit-in by disabled protesters at its building in downtown Seoul, civic activists said Monday, accusing the agency of contradicting its perennial pledge to protect the rights of the socially underprivileged.
About 160 disabled activists from across the nation went to a sit-in protest last Thursday after occupying the offices of the National Human Rights Commission(*), demanding the commission chairman resign and restrictions on financial aid for the disabled be eased. Most of the activists had withdrawn from the building by late Friday, but a dozen protesters stayed and staged a sit-in throughout the weekend.
The NHRC sent an official document on the second day of the protest asking police to disperse the protesters, mostly in wheelchairs, civic activists said, claiming that its request goes against its role to protect underprivileged people, like the disabled.
The NHRC explained the request was an inevitable decision to normalize its operation.
“(The protesters) did not get out no matter how many times we have persuaded them (to leave), so we had to normalize the official business as soon as possible before being paralyzed. We were left with no option,” an NHRC official said.
Several troops of riot police surrounding the building currently remain on standby for a possible conflict, according to officials.
“We are discussing measures against the remaining protesters considering their special status as disabled people,” a police official said.
Founded in 2001 during the administration of then-President Kim Dae-jung, the human rights watchdog has a symbolic standing in a country where individuals’ rights were violated by past authoritarian regimes. But its chairman, Hyun Byung-chul, who took office as chairman of the commission in July 2009, has come under pressure to resign after members of the commission quit en masse in protest against him for his failure to speak on key issues that are sensitive for the government.
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20101206000726
2. Last Friday(12.03) Yonhap News Agency reported that...
South Korea's state human rights agency will submit a bill next week to recommend the government resume anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts on the border, officials said Friday, amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula after the North's shelling on a South Korean island.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said a nine-member meeting will discuss the proposal on the resumption of the propaganda broadcasts on Monday and put it to a vote.
The bill, proposed by six conservative commissioners, advises the government to resume anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts on the heavily armed border to show the real state of the world to the people inside the reclusive country. The first proposal was put to a vote in June, but failed to win a majority vote.
Loudspeakers are designed to send broadcasts up to 24 kilometers into North Korea's interior at night and 10 kilometers during the day. Pyongyang has consistently warned that it will shoot the loudspeakers if they are turned on.
Citing the North's military provocations, the NHRC is calling for the passing of a North Korean human rights bill, while opposing another bill on allowing civic groups to establish North Korean human rights foundations, both pending at the National Assembly, according to officials...
The proposal is likely to draw criticism as critics argue that it could feed already high tension near border areas and say anti-Pyongyang propaganda goes beyond the NHRC's original role.
* Related article:
☞ Rights agency occupied by disabled (K. Times, 12.03)
Last week KCTU/KMWU called for "National Popular Rallies" to support the strike struggle by hundreds of Hyundai Motor's irregular workers(in Ulsan, Jeonju and Asan).
But y'day(12.04), the date of the solidarity rallies, only a very small number of labour activists showed up...
In downtown Seoul about 1000 activists joined the 'event'...
...and in Ulsan only 700 people gathered for a solidarity rally/demo:
Related reports:
☞ 전국민중대회, 현대차 비정규직 총력투쟁 결의 (NewsCham, 12.04)
☞ 영남권 민중대회 "아름다운 연대에 함께하자" (Ulsan NodongNews)
Sounds like a f*cking great idea to maintain the "peace" on the Korean Peninsula(!!):
11.29: Conservative "civic group" members during a rally in Paju near the N.K. border
Related stuff:
Dr Leonid Petrov, an expert on North Korea at the University of Sydney: "Conservatives in Pyongyang and Seoul are driving the situation to a new extreme", according to Guardian (12.01).
☞ Anti-North sentiment increasing... (JoongAng Ilbo, 12.01)
☞ Civic organizations call for dialogue with N.Korea... (Hankyoreh, 12.01)
Today is the 17th day of Hyundai Motor's irregular workers (sit-in)strike!
Yesterday's (bourgeois newspaper) Korea Times reported the following about the current situation at the "front line":
Hyundai’s temporary workers cornered
Hyundai Motor’s contract workers have continued striking and protesting for 16 days, but they are gradually losing ground, cornered by the hostile government, the rock-ribbed Hyundai Motor and the permanent employees’ union that still hasn’t decided on its full support for their non-regular counterparts.
The latest blow comes from the local police force, Ulsan Dongbu Police Station, which requested arrest warrants for seven leaders in the contract workers’ strike including Lee Sang-soo, the temporary workers’ union leader.
The police said that Hyundai Motor sued the leaders for obstruction of work, and they have been ordered to appear at the police station. As they haven’t, the police are now seeking to arrest them.
On Tuesday, some 30 members of the contract workers’ union were taken to the police station for trying to occupy the second assembly line of the automaker, which produces the Santa Fe sport utility vehicles.
The government is yet to exercise its power to stop the strike, and there has continued tense confrontation between contract workers and Hyundai Motor’s security guards and managers with both parties claiming they have been physically assaulted.
Bahk Jae-wan, the employment and labor minister, said Monday in a meeting with journalists that the strike by contract workers is illegal and called for them to stop striking as of Monday. The Korean labor law prohibits temporary workers from going on strike to win permanent jobs.
Bahk’s remark was interpreted by the local media as an ultimatum before the government exercises its authority.
Hyundai Motor also hasn’t become any more lenient on the contract workers’ demand. The automaker’s Vice President Kang Ho-don refused Sunday to negotiate directly with non-regular workers, but said the firm will hold talks if non-regular workers stop the strike and occupation of the assembly line. He said that the talks should involve the company, the permanent employees’ union, subcontractors and the labor union of contract workers.
On Kang’s request, the non-regular workers’ union said officially Monday that it would continue occupying the plants and striking until the automaker comes up with a realistic plan to give them permanent jobs.
Contract workers’ occupation of the plant has given them some leverage in voicing their demands because it has completely stopped the production of the newly-unveiled, much anticipated Accent. Hyundai Motor says that it has so far been unable to produce about 18,700 vehicles and therefore lost 208 billion won.
Furthermore, contract workers’ relationship with the permanent employees’ union began showing some strain after the latter’s leader Lee Kyung-hoon was allegedly grabbed by the collar by a former contract worker who remains a member of the non-regular workers’ union.
The permanent employees’ union said Monday in a newsletter it is tragic that Lee was stopped when he tried to enter the sit-in site at the first assembly line to discuss solutions and supply contract workers with food. The newsletter called for contract workers to regain their countenance and for trust to come first.
On the official website of the non-regular workers’ union, several postings claimed that Lee had not been physically threatened and complained that the Lee’s union isn’t supportive enough.
The permanent employees’ union has given moral support and provided food to the isolated contract workers on strike, but hasn’t promised to go on strike along with the umbrella labor union the Korea Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU).
The KMWU declared on Nov. 22 that it would go on a nationwide strike in early December if Hyundai Motor doesn’t start negotiating with non-regular workers by the end of November.
Although the permanent employees’ union belongs to the KMWU, it decided Monday that all members will vote on whether or not they would go on strike.
In such a situation, the strike isn’t expected to end in the near future. Hyundai Motor and the contract workers have completely different views that they are unwilling to adjust...
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/11/123_77249.html
For more updated info please check out:
☞ 울산노동뉴스
Yesterday's "Strike Bulletin":
Some of the most interesting parts of the recently released WikiLeaks ("The US embassy cables") concerns the - probably uneasy - relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang.
Today's Al-Jazeera reported the following (making the "Dear Leader" possibly a bit unhappy, resp. just pissed off!!):
China 'backs Korean reunification'
Chinese leaders privately support a unified Korea and would not stop the North's collapse, according to leaked US cable
Chinese officials increasingly doubt the usefulness of neighbouring North Korea as an ally and would support the reunification of the peninsula if the communist state were to collapse, according to leaked US diplomatic cables.
The latest documents released by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks on Tuesday detail conversations between US officials and Chinese diplomats, as well as a senior South Korean official's discussion with his Chinese counterparts.
Cheng Guoping, the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, was reported to have told Richard Hoagland, the US ambassador, that "China hopes for peaceful reunification in the long-term, but he expects the two countries to remain separate in the short-term".
The remarks were made during a three-hour dinner in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, in June 2009, according to documents published on WikiLeaks website.
Cheng was quoted as telling Hoagland that China's objectives in North Korea were to ensure they honour their commitments on non-proliferation, maintain stability, and "don’t drive [Kim Jong-il] mad".
Pyongyang's protector
The cable said that Cheng suggested that Kim Jong-il's decision to anoint his youngest son as his successor was driven more by Kim's deteriorating health than any carefully planned strategy.
"They had no time to plan for this," he was quoted as saying, adding that Kim Jong-il's announcement was designed to send a message to the military that he held the power.
Beijing has long been considered Pyongyang's protector, as seen during the recent crisis over the shelling of a South Korean island close to a disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea.
In the aftermath of the incident, which left at least four people dead and saw both nations increase their military readiness, Washington appealed to Beijing to rein in the North. China responded by calling for a meeting of world powers to diffuse tensions.
But in another cable from Seoul, South Korea's capital, the country's then vice-foreign minister was quoted as telling Kathleen Stephens, the US ambassador, that two high-level Chinese officials told him they "believed Korea should be unified under ROK [South Korea] control".
Chun Yung-woo, now the national security advisor to South Korea's president, said that the younger generation of Communist leaders in Beijing did not regard North Korea as a useful or reliable ally and would not risk a renewal of armed conflict on the Korean peninsula, the cable said.
Those younger leaders, Chun said, "would be comfortable with a reunited Korea controlled by Seoul and anchored to the United States in a benign alliance".
He reportedly dismissed the prospect of Chinese military intervention in the event of North Korea's collapse, noting that China’s strategic economic interests now lie with the United States, Japan, and South Korea, not with North Korea.
Chun was quoted as saying that he believed that the North would cease to function as a state within three years of Kim Jong-il's death and said Beijing had "no will" to use its economic leverage to change the country's political policies.
Chinese 'conundrum'
Andrew Leung, the chairman and CEO of International Consultants Limited in Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera China was in a "conundrum" over the future of North Korea.
"China doesn't want to cause an immediate collapse of the regime and force reunification because a divided Korea could at least provide a possible buffer against encirclement," he said.
"An immediate collapse of North Korea could also not be good for South Korea. If you look at the unification of the two Germany's, you have got to wait until the conditions are right and it could drag down the economy in South Korea quite dramatically."
The diplomatic memos were released as North Korea announced details of an expanded nuclear programme, saying it has thousands of working centrifuges in a new uranium enrichment plant.
In the cable from the US ambassador to Kazakhstan, China's Cheng described the North's nuclear programme as "very troublesome". He said that China "opposes North Korea's nuclear testing and is working to achieve peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," the cable said...
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/11/2010113034727624560.html
MUST READ! The Guardian (UK) has some more detailed articles about the issue:
☞ Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon North Korea'
☞ WikiLeaks cables: How China lost patience with North Korea
Related article:
☞ Unhappy China Seeking "Not to Drive Kim Mad" (DailyNK, 11.30)
1. Some of today's headlines regarding the current situation on the Korean Peninsula:
Danger of War in Asia - South Korea Threatens the North
(Die Welt, German conservative newspaper)
North Korea in 'semi state of war'
Seoul vows naval, air strikes on NK
(K. Times)
Related articles:
☞ South Korea: despatch from the frontline of World War Three (Telegraph, 11.28)
☞ S. Korea deploys more artillery, rockets on Yeonpyeong Island (K. Herald, 11.29)
☞ South Korea cancels Yeonpyeong island drills (Guardian, 11.29)
2. As you probably know '2MB' (aka the S. Korean president) addressed the S. Korean public this morning regarding N. Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong-do. Here you can read the full text of Lee's "address to the nation".
3. While since the end of last week thousands of S. Korean conservative/reactionary 'activists'(^^) are protesting...
...against the "ongoing pacifism" of the S.K. gov't and its military, the S. Korean 'peace movement' is - once again - in the state of shock.
Y' day evening in downtown Seoul: only 150, according to Tongil News (VoP: 300),
'peace activists'(^^) demonstrated (or just prayed??) for a "peaceful
coexistence on the Korean Peninsula"
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