CINA

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(MUST listen & ENJOY^^: SchoolGirl LiberationFront's song..)

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(uhuu.. please don't ask me for a comment about the program.. SORRY!^^)

2. Tomorrow's Culture Festival in Yongsan:

3. Rallies Planned Over Weekend (K. Times, 6.12)
 

Warning Issued Against Illegal Gatherings

A series of rallies are planned over the weekend in downtown Seoul, with clashes between demonstrators and police as well as traffic congestion feared.

Police pledged strong action against protesters who use violence or disrupt traffic.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the nation's two umbrella unions, will hold a rally in front of Korea Development Bank in Yeouido at 4 p.m. Saturday, with 8,000 participants expected.

The demonstration is in support of the strike of cargo truck drivers, who started a walkout Thursday to demand that a logistics company renew contracts with 30 of their colleagues. The group will also call for Ssangyong Motor to scrap its layoff of nearly 1,000 workers.

After the Yeouido rally, they plan to hold a candlelit protest in front of the main gates of Deoksu Palace, just across the street from Seoul Plaza, at 7 p.m. Police refused a request for a rally on the plaza, but have not ruled out the possibility of an attempted advance to the area because of the limited capacity in front of the gate.

Another gathering is scheduled on Saturday evening to commemorate the death of two middle schoolgirls, Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun, who were accidentally struck and killed by a U.S. armored vehicle north of Seoul in 2002.

Civic groups have held the commemoration at Seoul Plaza every year since 2003. But police are considering a blockade of the plaza with patrol buses.

Striking cargo truck drivers will also gather in Seoul and stage a demonstration Saturday, but have not yet decided on the exact site.

On Sunday, some 3,000 civic group members will gather at Jangchung Gymnasium at 2 p.m. to commemorate the June 15 Joint Declaration signed between former President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000.

They plan to march to a park in Euljiro after the gathering despite the police's earlier notice that they would ban the march.

"We will take a stern attitude toward rallies without prior permission, as well as arrest violent protestors with evidence from video clips even after the gatherings are over," a police officer at the National Police Agency said.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/06/113_46746.html

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A short while ago the S.K. gov't announced its insolent plan to ban all political (except the reactionary^^) rallies/demos from downtown Seoul, incl. Daehak-no, Jong-no/Gwanghwamun, Seoul City Hall Plaza etc...

And of course a majority of the public (incl. civic and human right groups, KCTU, political parties, resistance organisations...) is strictly opposing the plan!

Well, tomorrow the conflict between them and the gov't (i.e. the riot cops) could escalate, as the (bourgeois) Korea Times reported y'day:

Tension Builds Up Ahead of June 10

Police have banned anti-government rallies scheduled for central Seoul on Wednesday, heightening fears of a clash with protestors.

Wednesday is the 22nd anniversary of the nationwide pro-democracy "6/10 movement" in June 1987.

At that time, hundreds of thousands of people rose up against then President Chun Doo-hwan's dictatorship, forcing the military junta to declare on June 29 that the government would introduce a direct presidential election system.

Opposition political parties and civic groups timed the latest rally to coincide with the watershed moment, which also led to the release of detained pro-democracy activists including Kim Dae-jung, who later became President between 1998 and 2003.

The Democratic Party, progressive civic groups, scholars, and religious leaders want to stage rallies at Seoul Plaza, Cheonggye Stream and other parts of Seoul.

"It's to denounce the Lee Myung-bak administration for its policies backpedaling the country's democracy, friendly to the rich, and raising Seoul-Pyeongyang tensions," organizers said in a joint statement.

Police said the applications for the rallies were rejected because some other conservative organizations filed applications for the use of the plaza beforehand. National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Hee-rak demanded police officers around the country play by the rules in cracking down on unauthorized demonstrators.

Despite the refusal, anti-government civic groups plan to push ahead with the rallies as planned...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/06/117_46480.html

Related articles:
☞ Tension heightens over Seoul rally (K. Herald, 6.09)
☞ Restore freedom of assembly at Seoul Plaza on June 10 (Hankyoreh, 6.08)

*****

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Thousands of unionized workers - "armed with metal pipes and firebombs"(^^), according to AFP(6.03) - at SsangYong Motors(SYM), the smallest carmaker in S. Korea, are in strike and have occupied a plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, since May 21 to fight a layoff plan.

Five days ago(6.03) the management of SYM, backed by the gov't, announced that they will call in riot police to end the strike/occupation unless the workers disperse by early this week.

But despite the risk of a violent crackdown(executed by thousands of riot cops) SYM's labor union rejected today an "arbitration" proposal by the management and vowed to continue their strike/occupation "until victory".

Already before y'day(6.06), during a powerful Struggle Culture Festival in Pyeongtaek, at least 3000 striking SYM workers - incl. their relatives and hundreds of supporters - declared their readiness to strike back...

Here some impressions from the event:

Related article:
☞ Ssangyong Motor Union Rejects Arbitration Proposal (K. Times, 6.08)

For more about the SsangYong strike please check out the related articles in LabourStart!

 

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You listen to the latest program of Action Radio/Media Re-development Broadcasting, incl. the impressive performance by comrade Ji Min-ju, a well-known progressive protest singer:

Ji Min-ju's performance in Yongsan (6.04)

For more about the broadcasting please check out:

☞ 지민주 용산현장 공연실황

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Before y'day 500,000 people gathered on Seoul's City Hall Plaza for the funeral ceremony of Roh Moo-hyun.

But only one day later the "national unity"^^ (JoongAng Ilbo) was over.
The "5.30 Protest Rally for Peace, Political and Social Justice" - planned for Sat. afternoon by many trade unions, student solidarity groups, the Yongsan Coalition, civil and human right organisations - was in fact banned by the gov't. 14,000 riot cops (plus 8 water cannons..) prevented, partly by using massive violence, any potential protester from entering the City Hall Plaza (a detailed report, incl. pictures and several videos you can read here).

Related articles:
☞ 범국민대회 원천봉쇄... 시민-경찰 곳곳 충돌 (OMN)

☞ 5.30 범국민대회 원천봉쇄...연행 (NewsCham)  

☞ 5.30대회속보.. (KCTU)

☞ 경찰, 무력 해산 시도…70여명 연행 (Redian)  

Photo reports:
☞ 5월30일 새벽5시 시청광장 상황

PS:
K. Times reported that 72 "Roh supporters" were arrested.. But I doubt that every protester who is in opposition to the ruling system in S.K. is automatically a supporter of the former Roh administration!!

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For more informations please check out:
☞ 5.30 서울시청에서 범국민대회

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1. Struggle News #1 - part of IMC S.K. and Media Redevelopment Action Radio's project, broadcasting from the Candle Light Media Center in Yongsan, Seoul, South Korea.

Struggle News #1 (5.19) covered the last week of actions and events that took place in South Korea:

2. Tomorrow's struggle day(afternoon/night) in Seoul

* according to 촛불시민연석회의. There you can find some more infos about tomorrow's struggle day dates!