CINA

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Well, to make it short: last Sunday (12.09) THE MAIN MTU RALLY/DEMO took place in downtown Seoul.

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Last Tuesday Masum (Abul Basher M. Moniruzzaman)..

Masum, 06.2005/anti-war demo in Seoul

..MTU's General Secretary, since 11.27 imprisoned in Cheongju Immigration Detention Center - wrote and sent an open letter (sorry, but we received it just y'day).
Here you can read the full text:

Greetings,

I am Masum, the General Secretary of the Migrants' Trade Union. On November 27th at 8:30am I was arrested by the Immigration Authorities near my home.

Shortly after I was arrested our president was arrested near his house and our vice president near his workplace. The arrests and imprisonment of three MTU-central officers with in one hour on the same day is no small incident. The Immigration Authorities may say it is simply their job to carry out the crackdown, but arresting three union members on the same day at the same time has to be called union repression.

Our organization was founded on April 24, 2005 in order to fight for the human rights and labor rights of foreign workers in South Korea. Our officers were elected through a democratic process by our union members. Officers in the central leadership serve for a two-year term. We must carry out our duty for two years. MTU is an organization that is protesting the government's discriminatory policy towards migrant workers, fighting for more labor rights for migrant workers and calling for legalization of all undocumented migrant workers. We area also an organization that is working in solidarity with many social movement organizations to end distinction between Korean and foreign workers and win equal pay for equal work. We are carrying out national education and many other activities to stop Immigration's man-hunting crackdown and forced deportations.

MTU has been received with discrimination and repression by the South Korean government since it was founded. The crackdown has been severe in areas were MTU is well organized and many union members and officers have been arrested, imprisoned and deported in the course of the crackdown.

MTU's first president, President Anwar, was arrested within 10 days after we submitted our noticed of union establishment and imprisoned for 1 year. After him, our officers have been targeted, arrested and deported. I would like to tell the story of a few of these people.

After the Immigration Authorities came together with other agencies to carry out the joint crackdown most of our branch and chapter officers have been targeted, arrested and deported. Among them, in addition our members and officers in Suwon, Masan, Osan, Seoul, Anyang, Uijeongbu, Namyangju, Paju, Ilsan, Goyang City, Incheon and other places have been forcibly deported including our Seoul Branch Leader, Seongsu Chapter Leader, Ansan Chapter Leader and many others.

Although the Ministry of Labor turned down our notification of union establishment the High Court made a ruling on February 1, 2007 telling the Ministry of Labor to acknowledge our official union status. However the Labor Ministry refused to listen and has filed an appeal. The Supreme Court trail is currently underway.

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor are trying to deport MTU officers chosen by our union members in order to influence the Supreme Court decision so that they can continue to deny migrant workers' labor rights and repress us.

If an organization or union does not have officers democratically elected by its members then it looses trust. In addition, MTU is to pick a new central leadership to fill our spaces there has to be a General Assembly and the consent of the union members has to be obtained through a new vote. In the current situation, this is impossible.

The current situation is that the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Justice are trying to completely crush the voices of migrant workers who have come to South Korea to work by imprisoning MTU's president, vice president and general secretary and therefore influencing the Supreme Court decision.

Right now, the labor rights of migrant workers are not recognized by the Employment Permit System which was supposedly made to protect migrant workers' rights. Because of there is no right to move freely from one workplace to another migrant workers become undocumented while they still have legal visas. They are caught by the Immigration Authorities and then forced to leave the country. There are even many cases where migrant workers become undocumented because they or their employers do not know the proper legal procedures. The EPS is not one bit useful for migrant workers. They say that average work time has become longer than before, wages have gone down and human rights abuses have become more frequent.

MTU has always believed and still believes that migrant workers should received the same labor rights as Korean workers and equal pay for equal work in accordance with the Labor Standards Law.

 
There should be one law for all the migrant workers who come to South Korea. Because of the discriminatory law the whole lives of migrant workers are getting worse and worse. In particular, the Ministry of Justice has made a proposal for an anti-discrimination law, but in the proposal 7 out of 20 of the stipulations regarding prohibition of discrimination have been erased. There are two references to migrant workers. The first is language and the second is country of origin. In terms of country of origin there is a discriminatory attitude towards people who come to work in South Korea from Africa or Asia.

MTU protests this attitude. In the midst of all this, MTU's officers have been arrested and are about to be deported. This is obvious repression against MTU and discrimination against migrant workers. From this act we can clearly see the message of the Ministry of Justice and its affiliated agencies: Migrant workers- you must live in South Korea under discrimination without human rights or labor rights!

 
I believe that in this situation, the National Human Rights Commission must be at the front in fighting for migrant workers labor rights and human rights. The Human Rights Commission must demand the release of MTU officers imprisoned in Cheongju Detention Center and MTU members imprisoned in Hwaseong Detention Center.

 
Finally, we are people who are working for South Korea, We are not criminals. We simply want to receive fair treatment as workers while we are here. The South Korean government does not even show the slightest manners toward migrant workers who have been working in this land form any years. We also want to help South korea to receive the trust of other countries and move forward together on the path towards a multi-cultural society. Thank you for your time.

Stop the Crackdown and Deportations!

Legalize all Migrant Workers!

Win the 3 Labor Rights!

MTU General Secretary Masum, Fighting inside Cheongju Detention Center.

2007, December 4

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After tomorrow (Sunday, 12.09), on the occasion of this year's Int'l Migrant's Day, MTU activists and (hopefully!!) all their supporters will stage a massive protest rally/demo in the S. Korean capital Seoul (2PM, Marronnier Park/Hyehwa subway stn.)!

JOIN THE EVENT!!

SUPPORT THE STRUGGLE!!

투쟁~!투쟁~!

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Yesterday (12.05) the first massive protest rally against the imprisonment of almost the entire leadership of MTU took place in the S. Korean capital Seoul.

In the early afternoon about 300 activists of various labour unions (organized in the KCTU) - such as Construction Workers Union (KFCWTU), E-Land Workers Union, Metal Workers Union, Government Employees' Union, Public Service Workers' Union etc.. - student groups, political parties (DLP, Socialist Party..) and resistance groups (such as the Federation Against House Demolition etc..) gathered in front of the Immigration Office in Mok-dong to demand the immediate release of the prisoners and the end of the repression against migrant workers in S.K. in general and the MTU in particular.
   BTW.. it was the first really strong protest there since long time - likely since the end of our Sit-in strike in Myeong-dong (2003-2004), although the government's policy of manhunt and mass deportation (of undocumented migrant workers) never has been stopped since it started in late autumn 2003...

   Also y'day, almost at the same time, 10 MTU activists and about 30 supporters started a sit-in strike in the Korean Council of Churches (KNCC), near Jong-no 5-ga. In the second half of following video you can watch the first impressions about the "event":

Following some impressions from y'day's protest rally in Mok-dong (source of the pics: A.T., VoP):

*****

Sit-in strike in KNCC: Agit-Prop performance (^^) 

for migrants workers by Korean comrade

For more please see following reports:

☞ "이주노조 핵심간부 전원 석방하라" (민중의소리)

☞ [12월 5일] 이주노조.. 서울출입국사무소 앞 규탄 집회 (다함께)

☞ 대전, 표적 단속과 강제추방 반대 기자회견 (참세상, 12.06)

☞ 이주노조 간부 3인을 즉각 석방하라 (OhmyNews, 12.04)

☞ New Attacks on Korean Migrant Workers Union (IUF, 12.05)

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First of all: today's MTU rally in front of Seoul's Immigration Office in Mok-dong was joined by about 300 activists (more about it likely tomorrow)!!

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..supported by:

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STATE TERROR AGAINST MTU!!

Y'day (12.01) Znet published following article, written by Jamie D. (TwoKoreas Blog, for more solidarity.., please see below the article):

Reckless inequality: Dramatic arrests of Migrant Trade Union leadership highlight South Korea’s failed labour and migration policies

Entire MTU leadership arrested

 
On Tuesday, November 27th, the entire executive of South Korea’s Migrant Trade Union was arrested by immigration officials in three co-coordinated morning actions targeting these migrants at their places of work and residence.

 
The MTU is a courageous union of undocumented migrant workers, supported by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) that has been active for three years in advocating for migrant workers rights. In recent months they had held a mass memorial service for migrants that had died in Korea, whether on the job or off. They also won a precedent-setting case at the Seoul High court which had ruled that the government must accept the legal registration of the Migrant Trade Union, something which the government failed to do, preferring instead, it seems, to arrest the union’s leadership rather than recognize it legally.

 
At roughly 9:20am on November 27, MTU President Kajiman was leaving home to attend a planned protest in front of the Seoul Immigration Office when more than 10 immigration officers who had been hiding confronted him in front of his house.

 
General Secretary Masum also left his house the morning of the 27th in order to attend the protest in front of the Seoul Immigration Office. As he walked down the street, four 4 large men passed by who were laughing amongst themselves. He originally did not pay attention to them; however, immediately after, roughly 10-20 immigration officers and other people came up from behind and surrounded him.

 
At roughly the same time 4 immigration officers in front of the factory where he worked confronted Vice President Raju. When he demanded to see the officers’ identification cards, they presented him with a detention order and arrested him. Within hours, all three men were sent to a detention center in Cheongju, Northern Choongjeong Province, south of the capital Seoul.

 
In response to the arrests the KCTU has issued a petition for the release of the MTU leadership and have charged that the simultaneous arrest of three MTU leaders is a clearly a targeted attack, part of an intensification of the immigration crackdown against undocumented migrants in South Korea since the beginning of August of this year.

 
During this time more than 20 MTU members and officers of the MTU have been arrested. As with previous crackdowns, the authorities have admitted that the numbers of undocumented workers have not significantly decreased. The number of foreign residents in Korea has recently approached 1 million with some 230,000 said to be undocumented.

 
Failed migration policy reform

 
These numbers have swelled in recent years with the expansion of the Employment Permit System (EPS), an increase in the number of transnational marriages, and new laws governing the migration of ethnic Korean Chinese.

 
The EPS, designed to replace the discredited Industrial Trainee System, remains flawed in protecting migrant’s rights and encourages illegality as it has not been configured to factor in the actual costs of migration to individual workers (in the sense of hidden and illegal recruitment and brokerage costs that persist for migrants from particular regions; short, 1-3 year time horizons for employment that leaves both workers and employers with incentives to overstay the contract; and problems associated with the initial implementation of the EPS which ignored the majority of undocumented migrants in Korea by excluding them from access to permits).

 
Thus, a large portion of the increase in the number of undocumented year by year consists of overstayers rather than new migrants. Rather than correcting the system, the government, largely at the behest of the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Government and Home Affairs, has chosen to pursue crackdowns on the undocumented while recruiting newer workers from overseas.

 
As has been documented by South Korea’s own National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) [1], immigration officials routinely ignore legal procedures for dealing with migrant workers such as arranging prior warrants and disclosing their identification, and the immigration detention centers are often ill-equipped to deal with the large number of migrants they arrest in terms of safety, space, and medical care.

 
This message was brought home this past February when a fire at the Yeosu detention center left nine migrants dead and more injured. The fire exposed the shoddy safety conditions of migrant detention centers and the way in which the migrants who survived were treated (deported with slight compensation and before their injuries had fully healed) shocked many in Korean civil society and the public in general, spurring a further investigation by the NHRC.

 
The be fair, the government has attempted to make progress in terms of programs for transnational brides and children of migrant workers and Koreans as part of its anti-discrimination policies. Civil society groups have even participated in this reform and in designing service delivery. However, a number of grassroots organizations have been critical of the ways in which these services have been designed (such as education around traditional manners for foreign brides rather than education in their legal rights and resources in cases of abuse) and delivered (the creation of separate programs for ‘Kosians’ -- children of Korean and other Asians -- rather than anti-discrimination education in schools and workplaces, etc).

 
Fundamentally, however, anti-discrimination policy will remain stalled unless it can deal with the issues of migration policy design and the procedural violation of migrant’s rights inherent in this unjust crackdown and in the Employment Permit System itself.

 
As the national daily Hankyoreh reported earlier this week, progressive reform to immigration legislation does not seem likely in the near future; in fact, the opposite seems the case:

 
- An even greater problem is that earlier this month the government revised the Immigration Law to allow agents to question foreigners based on suspicion alone, without regard to time and place, further angering migrant workers. It is not that one cannot understand wanting to provide in the law some tools to work with while enforcing it, but it is a problem when the law just gives agents wide-ranging authority and includes no stipulations on procedures.

 
A law governing the national police requires that a police officer present identification and identify himself when stopping someone for questioning. Similarly, at the very least, immigration officials need to be required to prove who they are. It was in 2005 that the National Human Rights Commission officially recommended that immigration be given clear conditions, parameters on authority, and procedures for arresting illegal aliens.

 
This failure of immigration law reform has led, as the MTU and other migrant groups have complained, to a near permanent state of immigration crackdown targeting migrants in their places of work, residence, and in public space.

 
One of the reasons why the MTU has been targeted, perhaps, is that they have been the most vocal in creating an organization led by the people most effected by the crackdown -- the undocumented themselves – and, along with Migrant Worker’s Television and a handful of other grassroots groups, have been the most vocal in representing their plight. Their struggles has been recognized in statements by leading Korean unions and NGOs, as well in their interaction with international organizations including Amnesty International, the UN Special Rapporteur on Migrants, and the International Labour Organization, among others, which have brought attention to the Korean government’s migration policies.

 
However, as has been reported in Znet and elsewhere over the last few years, the MTU and its predecessor, the ETU, have lost the majority of their leadership over the years to targeted crackdowns and government repression.

Reckless inequality

 
If one steps back for a minute, it is easy to see that a lot of the suffering caused immigration law is part of a larger symptom of Korean labour market policies that attempt to create flexible labour markets with little concern for those affected.

 
Since the 1997 crisis, and indeed before, labour law has been used to flexibilize the employment relationship and has contributed to rocketing social inequality that harmful for both politics and the economy, undermining democratic process and making the Korean economy more dependent on exports and financialization to maintain domestic demand.

The ‘participatory government’ of former labour lawyer Roh Moo Hyun has used an incomplete tripartite committee (passing agreements without consent of the largest trade union federation), unpredicted use of damage claims against workers for illegal strikes, and repression of union protests in order to get these reforms past.

 
For what it is worth, the KCTU has attempted to assist workers affected by these policies but has encountered its own difficulties both internally and externally. These contradictions were exposed this summer after the new labour law on irregular work was passed and strikes and sit-ins of a largely female-led force of irregular workers proliferated. In the weeks after the events, the ability of the KCTU to mobilize solidarity did not live up to what was promised and the strikes fizzled and were marginalized.

 
Some attribute the lack of solidarity for grassroots struggles from the KCTU to be a matter of a dominant and nationalist oriented leadership faction that dominates both the KCTU and the Democratic Labour Party, but the reasons are complex and also involve the rise of more bread and butter concerns in some of the dominant sectoral unions of the KCTU whom are affected by neoliberal restructuring, and whose concerns about job security make it difficult to organize across both place and industry.

 
These criticisms aside, the KCTU does remain more mobilized than national confederations in most developed countries even if it remains internally and externally fragmented, and it is important to keep this in mind. Worker’ s protests on November 11 of this year saw pitched battles between police and workers in the downtown streets of Seoul, and extreme government efforts to silence dissent such as roadblocks, water cannon, and brute force. These protests came during the yearly national day of action commemorating the death of labour activist Chun Tae Il, whose suicide during the repressive dictatorship days helped spur the largely female-led democratic trade union movement of the 1970s.

 
On a tragic note, the week before the protests had seen two more worker-suicides in protest of the situation of irregular workers and the new labour law. Lee So-Seon, mother of Chun Tae-il and a heroic activist of her accord, took the opportunity to criticize both the tactic itself – “Don't die any more, instead, live and fight” – and point to the lack of unity between labour and progressive groups, and lack of a progressive media, as contributing factors to the sense of despair among workers.

 
On a brighter note, the KCTU has been able to start to break out of enterprise level confinement and begin the slow process of establishing industrial level unions. Earlier this fall, the Korean metal workers federation announced a collective agreement that included wage negotiations not only for regular unionists but also agreements on wages and working conditions for irregular and migrant workers working in metal industries. Collective agreements have also been signed in medical and financial industries, so progress in political rights at an aggregate level among regular workers is improving but more grassroots activists within the labour movement worry about how the situation of more marginal workers without industrial or enterprise representation can remain a priority if the trade union movement becomes more concerned with sectoral issues than grassroots struggles.

 
Obviously there are no easy answers to these questions, gains in industrial level agreements notwithstanding, the growing majority of workers are irregular workers (recent estimates put this figure at 53% of the labour force) and in a climate of trade liberalization and labour market reform the situation for workers outside of heavy industries and strategic sectors looks difficult. Added to this is the problem of real-estate bubbles caused by financial liberalization and urban redevelopment that dramatically affect the urban poor, as has been evidenced by the struggles of venders and urban residents affected by redevelopment schemes.

 
It may be a bit of a cliché to say that Korean progressive movements find themselves in a crisis because of these developments. Indeed, if one looks back upon the last 30 or 40 years of the Korean labour movement, it is hard to find when a period without crisis has been the norm, but the question of how to improve the situation is not invalidated by this insight. Certainly, a large degree of the current problems can be related back to the inequality that exists between workers, citizens and the more powerful segments of Korean society.

 
More so, efforts by grassroots social movements to change the direction of government policy and corporate power has been further limited by the degree of participation afforded to them even by the ‘participatory government’ of Roh Moo Hyun, and the speed and scope of neoliberal reform embraced by that regime. Even those progressives from the 80s democracy movement who went into the current government have found many of their progressive reform efforts stymied both internally and by the opposition and entrenched economic bureaucracies. Thus, even the president’s more moderate former advisors have lashed out at this ‘turn to the right’. Lee Jeong Woo, former chairman of the Presidential commission of policy planning, criticized the government’s rush to sign the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement in an editorial earlier this past summer in the Hankyoreh:

 
- The ‘‘Participatory Government’’ of Roh Moo-hyun has, over the last four years, worked in its own way to overcome a culture where ‘‘growth is everything’’ and ‘‘the market rules above all,’’ and I praise it for its efforts. The results have been a greater emphasis on harmony between growth, the re-distribution of wealth and the role of the public sector. Now, however, it is saying that it is suddenly going to trash that philosophy and go back to the familiar priorities of growth and the market. Put simply, it has turned to the right, and there ahead lies the cliff. Right now what is right for Korea is a greater turn towards the left. It is the Scandinavian social democratic model that has been judged the best of all the market economy experiments the human race has experienced so far. In public opinion surveys as well, it is the Scandinavian model that Koreans say they like the most. Though of course it would be difficult to move to that model right away, we should be gazing toward Scandinavia to get there. A free trade agreement with the U.S. means we are going to go in the wrong direction.

 
A “politics of solidarity”?

 
The broad liberal-left, however, seems at the current moment more fixated on a potential conservative conquest of political power than it is introspective on how some of this very inequality has permeated its own ranks: either in terms of the pursuit of neoliberal policy by economic reformers without the effective participation of those affected by it (which has served to eliminate much of the difference between liberals and conservatives on directions in economic policy, at least regarding labour if not trade and investment), or through neglect by more powerful and dominant actors in the political parties and union federations of grassroots struggles, often in favor of a political pre-occupation with the ‘national interest’ (in terms of ending the cold war division system) that has seen the bargaining away of much of the progressive content of the left-liberal platform and calls for progressives to unite around candidates whom seem set to pursue further neoliberal reform but have a pro-engagement stance toward the North.

 
Only a few on the progressive left have publicly stated that in a vibrant economic and political democracy (that could create more viable dimension to any post-division political configuration) there needs to be more to progressive politics than furthering of neoliberal reform and the politics of growth. To this end, many hope, that whatever the results of the upcoming presidential election, a ‘politics of solidarity’ prevails on the left which puts the problem of marginalized political groups on the agenda, and includes genuine participation as a tool for achieving this – something which is going to require a genuine transformation of tendencies on the current liberal-left.

 
No doubt there is room for greater coordination at multiple levels between progressive forces interested in these sorts of political and economic issues, be they migrant and irregular workers’ rights or trade and financial liberalization. One place to start may be with the case with the leadership of the Migrant Trade Union currently being held in detention. Seeing as their case represents an important component of any politics of solidarity that involves the configuration of politics within and beyond national borders, it seems an appropriate place to start, perhaps both for Korean social movements and their international allies.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=14417

The same article has been published in interlocals.net (HK):
☞ Reckless Inequality

More INT'L SOLIDARITY:

☞ S.K.: MTU Leadership Arrested (This Tuesday, 11.28)

☞ End SK gov't crackdown on MTU (OTHERWISE, 11.28)

☞ S.K. Migrants' Trade Union Leadership Arrested (KEIN.ORG, 11.28)

☞ Korea: Represje wobec związku imigrantów (CIA/Poland, 11.29)

☞ Korea: Stop Gov't Crack-Down on MTU! (Asian Food Worker, 11.30)

☞ Funktionäre der MTU verhaftet (LabourNet, Germany)

☞ Full list of Solidarity Statements (MTU)

☞ Crackdown of Migrant Organizers in S. Korea (IMC, int'l)

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STATE TERROR AGAINST MTU!!

Today KCTU issued following appeal for Int'l solidarity with MTU:

Urgent Call for the Release of MTU Leaders!
Stop Crackdown on Migrant Workers!

Migrants’ Trade Union Leadership Arrested on November 27th.
Stop the Repression against KCTU affiliate Migrants’ Trade Union!
Free President Kajiman and other Imprisoned Union Officers!
Stop the Crackdown and Deportations!

1. Background

On the morning of November 27, MTU President Kajiman, Vice President Raju and General Secretary Masum were arrested, in what was clearly a targeted crackdown against the leadership of MTU. We, the KCTU and the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade Union call on the international labor and human rights community to do whatever in their power to secure the release of the MTU leadership and end this labor repression against MTU.

At roughly 9:20am on November 27, President Kajiman was leaving his home in order to attend a plan protest in front of Seoul Immigration Office (*) when he was confronted by more than 10 immigration officers who had been hiding in front of his house. The immigration officers restrained the Korean activist with President Kajiman and then encircled the president. After protesting strongly, President Kajiman was eventually arrested, his shoulder hurt in the process.

General Secretary Masum also left his house the morning of the 27 in order to attend the protest in front of Seoul Immigration. As he walked down the street he was passed by four 4 large men who were laughing amongst themselves. He originally did not pay attention to them; however, immediately after roughly 10 immigration officers came up from behind him. He was suddenly surrounded by nearly 20 people and despite protesting was eventually arrested.

 
At roughly the same time Vice President Raju was confronted by 4 immigration officers in front of the factory where he worked. Upon seeing the vice president, the immigration officers immediately attempted to handcuff him, but failed due to his forceful protest. When Vice President Raju demanded to see the officers’ identification cards, they presented them along with a prepared detention order. Despite his protests the vice president was also eventually arrested.

 
Soon after all three men were sent to a detention center in Cheongju, Northern Choongjeong Province, south of the capital Seoul...

For the full statement/appeal, incl. a sample protest letter to the MoJ please read:
http://nodong.org/bbs//view.php?id=eng_action&no=53

Also today the "left"-liberal daily newspaper Hankyoreh published following editorial:

Stop the crackdown on migrant workers
 

Another reckless crackdown on migrant workers is underway. Yesterday three key officers in the Migrants’ Trade Union (Iju Nodongja Nodong Johap) were taken away by immigration agents. The three were clearly targeted. Just the other day two ethnic Koreans from China jumped off the roof of a Chinese speaking church in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, while trying to ditch agents there to arrest them, who then broke their legs and ankles. For how much longer is the government going to continue this inhumane crackdown?

The reason the government is going after foreign laborers with such zeal is said to be because of the rapid increase in the number of undocumented migrant workers. This kind of ruthless crackdown, however, is as bad a policy as one could have. There are said to be some 230,000 undocumented migrant laborers in Korea; is the government going to continue this way until it has grabbed them all?

An even greater problem is that earlier this month the government revised the Immigration Law to allow agents to question foreigners based on suspicion alone, without regard to time and place, further angering migrant workers. It is not that one cannot understand wanting to provide in the law some tools to work with while enforcing it, but it is a problem when the law just gives agents wide-ranging authority and includes no stipulations on procedures.

A law governing the national police requires that a police officer present identification and identify himself when stopping someone for questioning. Similarly, at the very least, immigration officials need to be required to prove who they are. It was in 2005 that the National Human Rights Commission officially recommended that immigration be given clear conditions, parameters on authority, and procedures for arresting illegal aliens.

Has the government already forgotten the appeal and recommendation issued by their Korean brethren in Germany? Eleven Koreans who went as migrant workers to Germany 30 to 40 years ago issued a statement earlier this month in which they said “all migrants should be recognized as members of society and granted rights that correspond to residents.” The government needs to take this suggestion into consideration and reexamine its proposed revision to the Immigration Law, then come up with a reasonable policy alternative that, instead of being all about cracking down, is enough to make our society feel some sense of pride about our immigration policies.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/253237.html

Related statements, articles, videos..(in Korean):

☞ 이주노조 지도부 연행 경과 및 현황 (MTU)

☞ [기자회견문]이주노동자노동조합 까지만.. (KCTU)

☞ 이주노조 지도부 줄줄이 연행 (VoP)

☞ 출입국, "불법이니 단속하라 했다" (참세상, article)

☞ 이주노조 간부 표적연행 규탄 (참세상TV, video)

☞ 노골적인 이주노조 말살 정책의 시작인가? (MWTV, video)

☞ 이주노조 집행부 표적 연행.. (이주노동자방송국, video)

* [11월 27일] 이주노조 집행부 표적 연행 규탄 집회 (다함께)

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STATE TERROR AGAINST MTU!!

Since the establishment of the MTU in spring 2005 migrant workers in S. Korea and their supporters in labour unions, (left) political organizations, human right and civic groups are struggling against its (MTU's) oppression by the government (i.e. the MoJ, Immigration authority, police).
Now, short before the current gov't must give up its "power" (next month a new president will be elected), it seems that the Roh Moo-hyun administration wants to close the "MTU file" - by FORCE!(*) It - most likely - means that the gov't just wants to smash MTU by arresting (and deporting) the leading activists of the organization.

MWTV reported today about following latest alarming development: "In the midst of the increasing crackdown on migrant workers, MTU (Migrant Worker's Trade Union) President (Kajiman), Vice president (Raju) and General Secretary (Masum) were all arrested at 9:30 am this morning (November 27) in front of their homes/workplaces.  They were arrested without any formal charges and are being held at detention center in Cheongju.."

Kajiman, Raju and Masum in Cheongju Immigration Detention Center

(source: 이주노동자방송국, 11.27)

The fact that the arrested comrades were transfered to Cheongju - far away from Seoul, where the majority of MTU's activists and their supporters are based - proves that this may be a first - or "better" the final - deadly attack against the migrant workers' movement in S.K.

Detailed infos about it you can read here (in Korean): 

☞ 이주노조 위원장 까지만,서울지부장 라주 오늘 아침 표적 단속! (MTU)

☞ 출입국, 이주노조에 또 “표적 단속”했나 (참세상)

☞ 불법체류 ‘토끼몰이 단속’ 여전 (한겨레)

☞ “이주노조에 대한 탄압에 저항하며 끝까지 싸울 것” (이주노동자방송국)

Solidarity statements:

대통령 선거전 첫날, 이주노조 임원 전원연행!

by 전국비정규노조연대회의

이주노동자 운동 지도자 구금과 추방 강력히 규탄한다!

by 민주노동당

노무현정부의 이주노동자 운동 와해 책동을 강력 규탄한다!

by 사회진보연대

까지만·라주·마숨 동지를 즉각 석방하라

by 다함께

본문

Today, four years ago about 200 migrant workers have begun their 387-day sit-in strike on Myeong-dong Cathedral's compound (in downtown Seoul) to protest against the beginning of S.K. government's crackdown - manhunt, mass arrests and deportations - against (undocumented) migrant workers in the country..

For more (incl. some pictures, links, music..) please see:

☞ 2003年11月15日.. (2006.11)

☞ 2 년전에.. 이주농성투쟁... (2005.11)

Related:

☞ OCAP's(CDN) solidarity with our struggle (base21, 2003.11)

☞ 平等労組移住支部 (LaborNet Japan, ETU-MB/MSSC special section)

☞ Migrant Workers.. Struggle in Seoul (indymedia feature, 2004.05)

☞ Güney Kore: Göçmen işçilerin.. (istanbul indy, special feature, 2004.06)

...etc, etc..