2250개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Today's Hankyoreh published the following editorial:
After four years, Yongsan disaster is still unsolved
Jan. 20 was the fourth anniversary of the Yongsan disaster. On that day, the People’s Committee for Commemorating the Fourth Anniversary of the Yongsan Disaster was established to remember the tragedy visited the gravesites of the victims at Moran Park in Gyeonggi Province. At the cemetery, they held a service to bring peace to the troubled souls of those who passed away.
On Jan. 19, the group visited the former site of Namildang Building, where the disaster took place in 2009. They held a ceremony for the victims there. After this, they went to the plaza at Seoul Station to take part in a memorial service. (More detailed info, incl. pics, you'll get here!)
The Yongsan disaster, as it is known today, refers to a confrontation that took place at the Namildang Building on Hangang Street in the Yongsan district of Seoul. Evicted residents had seized control of the building and were holding a sit-in protest in a temporary structure on the roof. When the police attempted to break up the protest, the structure caught fire, and five of the protestors and one member of the police SWAT team died in the blaze.
Eight people were put in prison as a result of this incident. Two of them were released on parole last year, but the remaining six are still behind bars. While people continue to demand that the government find out what really happened, punish those who were responsible, release and pardon the convicted residents, and revise the law on forced eviction, four years later the wounds have yet to heal.
The awful events that took place in Yongsan were ultimately the result of the Lee Myung-bak administration’s policies that focused on redevelopment and government-sanctioned violence. When the container filled with police officers landed on the roof of the Namildang Building in the early hours of Jan. 20, 2009, the evicted residents had only been in the temporary structure for one day. It was also only two days since Kim Seok-ki had been promoted to commissioner of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Facing the global financial crisis, the Lee administration rushed to engage in a variety of redevelopment projects including the so-called “new town” housing developments. Time and time again, residents were forcibly evicted from their homes.
The tragedy is still unfolding today, at least in the sense that the details of what really happened that morning have not been disclosed. While the court may have rendered its verdict, plenty of questions remain about the prosecution’s role in the indictment. Another sense in which the Yongsan disaster is continuing today is the fact that hired thugs continue to be employed in city renewal projects.
The time after an election when a new government comes to power provides us an ideal opportunity to tend to and heal the wounds suffered under the previous administration. And indeed, the Yongsan disaster is a wound that Lee allowed to fester for four long years. The residents took up their positions in the temporary shelter to protect their livelihood, but in the end some lost their lives while others have spent years in prison. Looking at the situation from the perspective of the victims and their families, we can see how a tragedy like this would drive one to despair. Of course, adding even further to the tragedy is the fact that a police officer lost his life during the crackdown on the protestors.
If president-elect Park Geun-hye hopes to unify Korean society, she must not ignore the Yongsan disaster. Of course, there are differing views in Korea today on what happened in Yongsan. But that does not excuse us from the responsibility to address the suffering of the victims. The healing process will only begin when we listen to the cries of sadness and betrayal of the victims and their families. We must listen to their stories and give serious thought to what kind of solution society can offer them. Only by doing this can we shorten the time necessary to unify Korean society.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/570569.html
Related article:
☞ "They Killed My Family, Yet It's Still a Vacant Lot..." (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 1.16)
PS: A collection of (English) articles and reports(audio & video) related to the Yongsan Massacre(i.e. "Yongsan disaster"), resp. the resistance against the Yongsan "redevelopment" project, you'll find here!
2009.1.20: A two-hour long massive and extreme violent crackdown, executed by an Anti-terror/SWAT unit, against 40 activists, resisting a so-called "redevelopment" project in Yongsan, central Seoul, left at least six people dead and 17 injured... [☞ SWAT Unit Attacked Sit-in Strike, Executed Massacre... (2009.1.20)]
Yesterday(1.19) afternoon, almost 4 years later, about 2000 people(citizens and labor/resistance activists) rallied and demonstrated in downtown Seoul to remember the Yongsan Massacre, to demand final justice for the victims and the end of the unhuman so-called "redevelopment" projects...
Impressions from today's memorial service in Maseok("Moran Park", the cemetary for the victims of exploitation and oppression in S. Korea):
Related articles:
☞ 용산참사 4주기 추모대회...“용산은 끝나지 않았다” (NewsCham, 1.19)
☞ 마르지 않는 눈물이지만..."우리가 희망임을 증명하자" (OMN, 1.19)
☞ 끝나지 않은 용산참사, 2000여명 4주기 추모 (VOP, 1.19)
☞ 2009. 1. 20. 용산 유가족의 멈춘 시간 (NewsCham, 1.20)
Well, it seems that the area around the HQ of Park Geun-hye's transition committee in Samcheong-dong, an neighborhood in central Seoul, became - for the time being - the new center for the S. Korean protest movement/class struggle...
Here some more impressions from yesterday's protests in Samcheong-dong:
Related:
☞ 67개 노동탄압 사업장, 인수위 상대로 공동투쟁 돌입 (NewsCham, 1.16)
☞ 경찰은 연행한 노동자들을 석방하고, 인수위는 즉각 대화에 나서라! (KCTU, 1.17)
Starting in the early morning of last year's Nov. 20, three dismissed Ssangyong Motor workers in Pyeongtaek(Gyeonggi province) ascended an electricity pylon to stage a sit-in protest. KCTU activists Han Sang-kyun, Moon Ki-joo and Bok Ki-seong are demanding the re-employment of the dismissed workers(as promised by the SsangYong management) and that a parliamentary inspection of the lay-offs be held.
Today is the 55th day of their sit-in struggle...
On December 10, Ssangyong Motor and the corporate union agreed to reinstate all 455 workers on leave without pay. The agreement is late in coming, but it is significant for it lays the first foundation to resolving the chaotically entangled Ssangyong Motor issue. The 455 workers on leave without pay will return to the Pyeongtaek plant on March 1.
But 159 laid-off workers including the three protesting atop a transmission tower and 1,904 workers on voluntary retirement still remain outside the factory. In other words, the conflict and challenges between labor and management are ongoing... (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 1.11)
And so... THE STRUGGLE GOES ON!!
Last Friday(1.11) morning in Seoul: Kim Jeong-woo (C), the leader of Ssangyong Motor Co.'s labor union, and other activists of the union protested in front of the office of the transition committee for President-elect Park Geun-hye after being denied a meeting with the committee's officials over their demand for a parliamentary inspection...
Related report:
☞ 인수위, 쌍용차 지부 면담 ‘거부’...인수위원회 앞 충돌 (NewsCham, 1.11)
Last Friday evening in Pyeongtaek: Solidarity 'performance' in front of the sit-in struggle site...
Related articles:
☞ Ssangyong to rehire all workers on unpaid leave (Korea Herald, 1.10)
☞ The First Step to Ending a String of Deaths... (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 1.11)
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