CINA

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Despite meaningless farces like that (Kang Gi-gap, the new leader of the United 'Progressive' Party emergency measures committee, bows seeking forgiveness for his party’s recent misdeeds during yesterday's press conference at the National Assembly)...

...KCTU already decided to end its support for the U'P'P.

Well, even it's a dramatic development, the dicision is only logical and justified!!(*)

Today's Yonhap reported the following:

The head of Korea's militant trade union said Tuesday his union has withdrawn support from a left-wing political party mired in infighting over alleged primary fraud.

"It is impossible for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions to continue to support the Unified Progressive Party," Kim Young-hoon, president of the labor umbrella group, in an interview on local radio.

The trade union forged an alliance with the UPP and its predecessor in previous elections in an apparent bid to boost their chances of winning elections.

Kim said recent violent clashes between the party's rival factions at the UPP's central committee conference have raised a fundamental question over whether the party plays its political role.

However, he suggested his union members would not bolt from the party en masse.

The trade union is a key backbone of the five-month-old party as some 35,000 union members have voting rights in the party, accounting for 46 percent of party officials who are eligible to vote in the party's internal elections.

The union boasts about 700,000 members who work in vehicle plants, shipyards, subways and other public transportation systems, according to union spokesman Park Song-shik.

Kim's comment came a day after a non-mainstream faction set up an interim emergency committee to reform the minor party torn apart by the primary fraud. The move triggered a strong protest from a mainstream faction loyal to the East Gyeonggi Coalition, an alleged pro-North Korean bloc that some say was dissolved a decade ago.

The factional division has deepened since earlier this month when the party announced after an internal investigation that its primary to select the party's proportional representation candidates for the April 11 elections had been rigged.

Seven UPP candidates were elected through direct elections and six others won parliamentary seats under the proportional representation system, which allocates seats to parties according to the numbers of votes they receive.

The UPP, which was created just five months ago, has become the third-largest party in the 300-seat National Assembly.

Related articles:
☞ Labor unions withdraw support for UPP (K. Times, 5.15)
☞ Umbrella union calls off allegiance to UPP (K. Herald, 5.15)
☞ UPP votes down 14 candidates for proportional reps (JoongAng Ilbo, 5.15)
☞ How can we expect such people to lead progressive politics? (Hankyoreh, 5.14)

 
* But if KCTU (in fact the creator of the former 'Democratic' Labour Party, the main part of U'P'P) really wants to make a new beginning... it needs to rethink its own domocratic - or rather undemocratic(!!) - structure(almost the same like in 'D'LP/U'P'P), still ruling the union!!

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Last Wednesday(5.09) in several cities, mainly in the US and EU, activists gathered to show their solidarity with the struggle against the Jeju Naval (Pirate) Base, already under construction - despite massive resistance by residents and their supporters - near the village of Gangjeong.
 

Here just some impressions from Germany's capital Berlin:

                                                                      Pics by Tsukasa Yajima

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From Wednesday until today's afternoon(KST) hundreds of activists joined and enjoyed struggle rallies, blockades, culture festivals and screenings in front of Seoul's main JEI building(in Hyehwa-dong) to "celebrate" 1,600 days of Jaeneung Struggle (detailed info about the strike you'll find here!).
 

Here just some impressions from the last three days:

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Every day - now since more than one month - citizens of the S. Korean capital are attending the memorial service (nearby 'Daehanmun', the main entrance of Deoksugung/Palace in downtown Seoul) for 22 workers, as they became fatal victims of the mass dismissal at SsangYong Motors plant in Pyeongtaek...

Last Thursday(5.08) afternoon 'disabled' activists held a rally in solidarity with the struggle of dismissed SsangYong workers to support their demand for re-employment:

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