CINA

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MTU released y'day the following piece:

Thank you all!
(Get Up, Stand Up! Stand Up for Your Rights!)

In behalf of Migrants' Trade Union, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to everyone who has supported and participated our concert last Sunday, August 22.

Despite of the short notice and short preparation period, the event pulled off... without any major glitches. It was a smashing success as people continue to rave about it. The performances were exceptional and were applauded by the audiences. Each one who came to watch the concert wore big smiles as they went out of the hall after the performance.

First, we would like to thank our very generous sponsors who have helped us make this event possible. Without you we would have not been able to see the realization of this event. Thank you to Serapina for doing the fund-raising for us despite of her busy schedules and other obligations. To Minbyun, who has not only helped us with our legal case in the Supreme court but has always been there for us to support all our efforts and activities. Thank you very much to KCTU, KCTU Seoul regional councul, KCTU Goyang-Paju branch, Metal Workers Union, New Progressive party, MP Hongheedeok, MWTV, Buddhist Action group, Bongeunsa temple, Korean House for International Soldarity, I&We, Peace Museum, Friends of Asia, JCMK, Network for migrants human rights, Catholic migrants center EXODUS and the lawyer Gwonyoungguk.

Secondly, we would like to thank the volunteer team. They were very organized and truly commendable in their dedication. Always alert and ready to cope with any situation, we owe you a lot for you have strictly kept everything in order. Everything just went on smoothly. Despite a minor delay on the starting time we were able to finish right on the dot at 5pm. We would like to make special mention of Minsu dongji the owner of Potala Restaurant in Myeongdong. He and his wife supported us in the concert driving us back and forth and picking up all our stuff as well as making our refreshing lassi drink. KCTU Seoul Regional Council dongjis, General Workers Union President Yoon Sunho and Bang Moonsoon, et al, they have been with us since the night before the concert preparing and ironing out everything which led to the smooth succession of events. And of course for the real brains of this operation, we would like to give our very special thanks to Soemoethu dongji who has not only done a wonderful job hosting and performing in our concert but has lent us his expertise and experience in organizing the programs for this event and connected us to all those wonderful artists.

And the artists.... all those wonderful artists. Thank you very much for the outstanding performance that you have given. Eventhough your participation in our event was purely voluntary and had no monetary benefits you have still given your best. We will forever cherish the memories that we have been able to make and share with you. Rest assured that you are included in the historical milestone of MTU! We sincerely hope next time, as the opportunity comes, your doors will still be open to us... to share each others passion, each others culture and our solidarity!

We would also like to thank our guests who have been there to support MTU all the time: The leaders and members of MTU, migrants, students, movement and social groups, activists and non-activists, Koreans and non- Koreans alike. Thank you all for making this event a special one. We hope to see you in the next one too. Maybe next time you can bring more friends.. because with you, the experience is well worth it!

Last but not least, I would like to personally thank the staff and the sit-in participants for working day and night just to make this event possible. We exist to inspire and empower people. We are living out our purpose. Be proud because we can do anything that we set our minds to! Be proud because we are MTU!

Thank you everyone! 투쟁!

In solidarity,
Michel
President
Migrants Trade Union

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First of all: the screenshot I uploaded y'day (related to the 'uriminzokkiri'-facebook) has - of course - nothing to do with the "real"/"official"...

...'uriminzokkiri'-facebook presence!

Anyway... it already disappeared some days ago^^!
Today's Yonhap reported that "N. Korea's presumed Facebook account deleted after reportedly breaking rules"

Well, and to make the confusion perfect: yesterday's CNET wrote that "North Korea denies being on Twitter, Facebook"...

You got it?!

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Since last week a kind of "game of chicken" between the South and North Korean "propaganda departments" is taking place and amuses the int'l internet community...

Last Saturday's Hankyoreh reported the following:

Inter-Korean hide and seek takes place on Twitter

S.Korean authorities have attempted to block N.Korea’s newly-created Twitter account

North Korea and South Korea are playing a fierce game of “hide and seek” on Twitter. The South Korean government blocked the Twitter site supposedly run by North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.

North Korea has responded by using a variety of techniques to get around this.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KOCSC), in accordance with requests from relevant agencies, blocked access by local users to the site twitter.com/uriminzok on Thursday, applying the National Security Law.

Accordingly, the site has been officially blocked since Thursday evening. Users of Twitter applications such as Parangsae and Seesmic, could still read it even after the measure. Since 75 percent of Twitter users access Twitter through these programs, the KCSC measure is having little effect. In fact, even after the authorities officially blocked access to the site, the number of followers continued to increase. As of Friday afternoon, they were more than 9,200. Most were Koreans.

Particularly noteworthy is that North Korea’s methods are growing more sophisticated. In fact, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland used the URLs from Uriminzokkiri just as they were when it first opened the Twitter account on Aug. 12, but from Aug. 18 it began using Twitter-use TinyURLs, and since the site was blocked, it has connected its posts to Facebook.

Its Facebook page has yet to be blocked. In particular, North Korea has been syndicating its Facebook content via RSS since Friday. It is also sharing videos via its Youtube account, which likewise has yet to be blocked.

The authorities are also showing more concern. The emergency blocking measure taken by the KCSC targets only the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http). It does not close off new paths set up by North Korea. As it is possible for users to access the blocked Twitter site via HTTP Secure (https), the authorities have become even more agonized.

Meanwhile, in an article published by the Christian Science Monitor, Michael Breen, who has written a biography of Kim Jong-il, said, “It shows they do not trust their own people.” Breen also said, “Citizens should be allowed to make up their minds about dictatorship.”

Andrew Salmon, a Korea expert who has written a book on the British soldiers who fought during the Korean War, remarked that it was “ridiculous” that the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland’s Twitter site was blocked.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/436131.html

Related articles:

☞ North Korea reportedly joins Facebook (AP, 8.22)

☞ Just how concerning are NK tweets? (K. Times, 8.20)

☞ A ‘tweet’ from Pyongyang could land you in jail (JoongAng Ilbo, 8.19)

☞ ROK set to counter NK Twitter offensive (K. Times, 8.18)

☞ North Korea says it has joined Twitter, YouTube (AP, 8.17)

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The Migrants' Trade Union(MTU) has been conducting a sit-in protest at Hyangrin Church in Seoul's Myeong-dong since July 13 to protest the South Korean government’s unjust crackdown against undocumented migrant workers. Additionally MTU’s President began a hunger strike on July 25...

Here you can follow the...
☞ 6th Sit-in Struggle Report (8.04-07)
☞ 7th Sit-in Struggle Report (8.09-12)
☞ 8th Sit-in Struggle Report (8.13-15)


 

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MTU's Solidarity Concert in Seoul:
 

Also on Sunday, migrant workers protest rally in Daegu:

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About two weeks ago antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on the wall of the Jewish cemetery in the (west) German city Aachen. A wellknown militant neo-nazi, "only" one week later he was arrested, sprayed swastikas and the slogans: “Free Palestine”...

...and "Turn on the gas tap for the Jews!"(*)

* As you possibly know, between 1942 and 1945 millions of Jewish civilians were murdered in the gas chambers, located in a number of German concentration camps!

For more info please check out:
http://antisemitism.org.il/eng/events

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1. Impressions from MTU's latest "Candle-light Culture Festival" against the ongoing crackdown campaign on migrant workers in the name of the next G-20 Summit, staged last Friday(8.13) in front of Myeong-dong Cathedral in downtown Seoul:

For more please check out:

http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=34936#0

2. Today's report in Korea Times:

Migrant workers suffer abuses

Six years have passed since the government opened the labor market wider to foreigners by adopting the Employment Permit System (EPS) with more than 164,000 foreigners working in Korea under the program.

But there are still few signs of progress when it comes to their welfare in the workplaces, a survey showed, Tuesday, with migrant workers’ human rights remaining largely ignored.

According to a survey of the Asan Migrant Workers’ Center to mark the 6th anniversary, nearly 40 percent of migrant workers in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, have suffered physical and verbal abuse at work.

More than 70 percent of them found their actual working conditions inferior to the contract terms they had signed. One fourth said they had not received medical checkups on an annual basis, which is illegal.

More than 30 percent said their passports, bank account details and other private goods were being kept by Korean employers, a measure to keep them from running away.

Thirty-three percent of the surveyed said they sleep in steel containers or conference rooms despite paying to move in to a company-associated residential facility...

Last October, Amnesty International urged Seoul to set tighter measures to guarantee better working conditions for migrants.

The human rights watchdog reported that many migrant workers in Korea are abused, trafficked for sexual exploitation or denied wages despite the introduction of rules for their protection.

Amnesty added these workers often have to operate heavy machinery or work with dangerous chemicals with little or no training or protective equipment, and suffer a disproportionate number of industrial accidents...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/08/113_71580.html

Somehow related article:
☞ Korea to open middle schools to illegal immigrants (K. Herald, 8.17)


 

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Lee Myung-bak(MB) in his yesterday's speech(*) marking the 65th anniversary of Korea's liberation(**) from the Japanese colonial rule proposed a "three-staged method of reunification with North Korea".

The three-stage plan would start with a "peace community" that assures security on the peninsula including a denuclearized North, followed by the creation of an "economic community" developing the North's economy through exchanges, and eventually "a community of the Korean Nation that will ensure dignity, freedom and basic rights of all individuals".

Although MB's "reunification proposal" is nothing more than balderdash regarding the current N-S "relationship"(or rather open hostility!!) the MB administration is planning the first "confidence-building measures"(***): A presidential committee on military reforms plans to propose to President Lee Myung-bak that the military adopt an operational plan that allows its forces to preemptively strike North Korean bases if they see any sign of impending aggression, according to yesterday's Korea Herald.

* "Marching together toward a Greater Republic of Korea!"

** "August 15 when President Kim Il Sung liberated Korea by leading the arduous anti-Japanese war to a victory", according to N.K.'s Rodong Shinmun(8.15)

*** Posting NK-friendly material ruled illegal (K. Times, 8.16)

Related articles:
☞ MB’s unification plan will only heighten tensions (Hankyoreh, 8.16)

☞ Lee orders thorough military drills to counter N. Korea threats (Yonhap, 8.16)

☞ Panel to urge ‘active deterrence’ on N.K. (K. Herald, 8.15)

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Tokyo, Yasukuni Shrine, two days ago: Representatives of European and Japanese ultra-nationalist/racist/fascist organisations honored the war criminals of the Imperial Japanese Army. The European delegation, which included ultra-right/fascist politicians from France, GB, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Belgium, has been invited to Japan by Issuikai, an extreme right-wing association that denies Japanese war crimes and wants to build a global alliance of nationalist groups to fight American "hegemony".

Yesterday's Xinhua (P.R. China) reported the following:

  
       European right-wing politicians visit Yasukuni Shrine 
 
European right-wing politicians including French Jean-Marie Le Pen on Saturday paid a visit to Japan's Yasukuni Shrine that has drawn outrage for honoring war criminals.

The visit came one day ahead of the 65th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.

Le Pen, leader of the far-right French National Front, told reporters after the visit that the move was to pay respect to those who died in war for their country.

The Japanese shrine, which is located in Tokyo, honors 2.5 million war dead including 14 top war criminals. China, Korea and other Asian countries regard that it glorifies Japan's past militarism.

In the past, Asian countries had been outraged by visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese politicians.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said earlier that he will not visit the Yasukuni Shrine during his tenure. All of the ministers of Kan's Cabinet also said they will not visit the shrine Sunday.

Tens of thousands of soldiers as well as civilians of European countries were captured by the Japanese Imperial Army as they waged war of aggression against former colonies of Europe in Asia at the beginning of World War II. Thousands of them were believed to have been executed, tortured and starved to death in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/14/c_13445030.htm

Related articles:
☞ Far right pays tribute to Japan's 'war heroes' (Independent, 8.14)

☞ European Right-Wing Leaders Visit Japan War Shrine (WSJ, 8.14)