CINA

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Following impressive documentary about last Sunday's migrant workers' rally/demonstration was produced by MWTV (THANX a lot, dear colleagues!!).

지난 2월 25일 2시 서울역 광장에서는 여수 화재 사건에 대한 추모제 와 항의 집회가 열렸습니다. 약 천명의 사람들이 참가한 이번 집회에서는 많은 이주노동자들이 거리로 나와 안타까운 심정들을 직접 이야기 했습니다.

그간 한국 정부는 가족들의 허락도 맡지 않고 시체를 부검하고, 병원에 있는 부상자들에게 수갑을 채우며, 현장에 있던 정신적인 안정이 필요한 이주노동자들을 다른 보호소로 옮기고 강제출국시키는 등 사건을 수습하는 과정에서 이해할 수 없는 행동들을 해 왔습니다.

행사에 참여한 많은 이주노동자와 한국인은 이번 여수 사건이  전체 미등록 이주노동자의 문제를 보여주는 심각한 사건이라며 이주노동자의 인권 개선을 요구했습니다.

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Yesterday I wrote that the S.K. gov't/police had warned against "any anti-government protest".. And actually yesterday's migrant workers demo was blocked and attacked near Namdae-mun by large forces of the infamous riot cops (unit 1001!! for example). Actually I read this in some Korean articles, but I wasn't sure if I interpreted it well. Today, watching the latest documentaries by comrade "Hong Gil-dong.."(숲속홍길동同志) I found out that my "interpratation" wasn't so wrong.. (aeh, until now there is NO independent English report about y'day's demo!!)

Related:

☞ 2.25 여수참사규탄 서울집회..(2)

☞ [225서울역] 이주노동자 집회에 다녀와서

☞ 경찰 통제로 얼룩진 여수참사추모대회

BTW:

Special THANX to 절거민同志 for their yesterday's active solidarity!!

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 2.25, SEOUL: MASS PROTEST 

BY MIGRANT WORKERS

Despite "strong warnings" by the S.K. ruling class, i.e. the police, against "any anti-government protests, particularly against the murders in Yeosu Immigration Detention Center" (VoP, 2.24) today between 500 (according to the police/Yonhap) and 1000 (Pressian) migrant workers and many Korean supporters - student activists, KCTU members and activists of several left political organisations - took the streets of Seoul. The demonstrators protested against the S.K. government's policy of discrimination and criminalisation, manhunt, mass detention and deportation of "un-documented" migrant workers.

Well, I hope, that sooner or later I'll get more infos about the demonstration in English! Right now I found only reports about it in Korean (Sorry!!):

☞ 경찰, 이주노동자들에게 또 폭력 (VoP)

☞ "9명 죽었는데 항의조차 못하다니" (OhmyNews)

☞ 불타버린 '코리안드림'…서울역서 집회 (Pressian)

☞ 여수화재참사 희생자 추모 및 정부규탄집회 열려 (Migrantsinkorea.net)

☞ 죽음으로 완성되는 코리아 드림? (OhmyNews, video report)

☞ 외국인 노동자와 경찰 도심서 충돌 (Yonhap)

☞ Apology demanded (JoongAng Daily)

PS:

Today on MTU's freeboard a "korean" left following message:

"if you have complaint to our present, go back to your country and never come back to south korea again.
you have to thanks to korea, because you are in poverty and korea provid job , you earnd money much
but you blame korea present
we our korean never want for you to come and work in korea
go back to your country
we hate you
if you had not came to our country ,recent fire at Yeosu Detention Center was never happende
you are illegal migrants worker"

NO COMMENT (..du verkackte Arschgeige)!!

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SMASH THE

'NATIONAL "SECURITY" LAW'!!

Related: 

☞ 국가보안법 폐지와 공안탄압 분쇄 투쟁 결의대회에 함께합시다

*****

And please remember: just one day later (Sunday, 2.25, 2 pm), at the same place (Seoul Stn.) the Migrant Workers' protest rally will take place!!!

Related:

☞ We are all ‘foreign workers’ (Hankyoreh, 2.16)

☞ 이주노동자단체들, "우리는 범죄자가 아니라 인간" 하소연 (VoP)

☞ How many more? Continuing death of migrant workers

☞ Who killed 9 chinese workers?

☞ After Yeosu.., immigrant workers raise their voices (Hankyoreh, 2.24)

☞ 2.23 여수시청 앞 '여수 화재참사' 추모집회 (VoP/incl. video report)

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Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William James Perry on Thursday called an inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea, as the ``future of the Korean Peninsula.’’ (K. Times, 2.22)

Yeah, the S.K. capitalists may like this idea:

- monthly payment for the workers: max. 50,000 Won ($50)

- labour unions are definetely not allowed

- no labour rights at all..

- and if the workers are choosing resistance: Yodok is just waiting for them..

  etc...

For more possibilities for maximum exploitation:

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☞ 이주노동자 노동조합/MTU

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Kim Jong-il's "creative" way how to solve the permanently lack of oil/gasoline in the DPRK:

Kim Jong-il orders Japanese cars confiscated

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has ordered most Japanese cars in the communist (blabla, b..sh..!!) country seized in a sign of his growing discontent with Japan imposing severe sanctions after the North's detonation of a nuclear bomb last October, informed sources said Monday.

"After he paid tribute to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace on Jan. 1, he saw a Japanese car that wasn't working blocking the road and gave a National Defense Committee edict to seize Japanese cars," a source familiar with the North Korean situation said, asking to remain anonymous... (Yonhap, 2.19)

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20070219/430100000020070219090018E5.html

Haha~ The most of the (still very few) cars on DPRK's streets are used automobiles from Japan!! So, no cars - no need of gasoline anymore!!

And later (IF the "report" is true - harrharr) - I'm sure - that the cars will be sold very soon to Vladivostok.. ^^

That's the final proof that Kim Jong-il is the wisest leader (at least) in the universe: Solving the oil problem and making (some) additionally money! Yeah, just a really great idea!!^^

Related stuff:

☞ Order of Car Confiscation Issued in North Korea (DailyNK) 

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Evidence:

Seoul, Mok-dong Immigration Office - Detention Center

Following a short record by one of the surveillance cameras in the 5th floor in Seoul's (Mok-dong) Immigration Office where the detention center is located. It shows the preparing for lunch in the left part of the "common" room and the entrance to the biggest cell (right). The person with the yellow t-shirt (12:31:27 he's passing the main gate) is the producer of the stuff, he called "the meal". Some inmates called him "cook" (^^)..

An eye-witness testified some days ago about the conditions in Mok-dong detention center:

"~110 "protected" (*) foreigner in ~200m2 room.
No ventilation. No walks.
No beds -- raw floor and 2 thin blankets for one man. Blankets was never cleaned (1-2 years to the date).
No sanitary.
No chairs. No normal tables. ~50% Protected are eating from the flour. Terrible food and there is no way even to buy normal.
Light and strong noise from 8AM till 2AM. Peoples are screaming in nights because of wounds done during arrests by Immigration Officers.
No working fire alarm system. Only one grates door. (Recently 9 mans died from a fire in similar Yosu "Protection" center)
Total Ignorance of law. No judgment - only "administration" and raw force.
No lawyers. No doctors.
No human rights. And no way to protest -- the open case against Seoul Immigration Bureau is a legal ground for infinitive (until withdrawal the case) detention in THIS room.
Even hitting grates is prohibited. "Use the intercom". But officers are "busy" to answer.
Immigration officers "knows only Korean language", exempt situation, when they see personal interest/profit.

Some of protected are staying in this room months. I personally know 5 and 7 months cases."

* Officially, by the S.K. "authorities" the detention center is called: "protection" center (^^) 

Related reports:  

☞ Mok-dong "Holiday Inn", a.k.a. … (# 1)

☞ Mok-dong "Holiday Inn", a.k.a. … (# 2)

☞ Mok-dong Immigration Terror

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Last Wednesday I had to read the article Pyeongtaek Villagers Finally Agree to Resettlement in (f..) Chosun Ilbo. A short while later I asked a friend/comrade about the truth of this article (actually I wasn't really surprised about this development, but nevertheless it makes me very sad!!)..

And he posted following on PCPT's English section:

Daechuri residents had to give up the autonomous commune...
 

read an article below about the recent situation in Daechuri and Doduri.
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Pyeongtaek Villagers Finally Agree to Resettlement
The three-and-a-half year conflict between the government and the residents of Pyeongtaek about the relocation of U.S. troops to the area has come to an end. Residents from villages surrounding Pyeongtaek and government officials agreed on 24 issues at a meeting in Pyeongtaek City Hall Tuesday regarding a resettlement area and living support measures for villagers uprooted by the coming U.S. base.

According to the plan, 59 households in Daechuri and Doduri villages that had earlier refused to resettle will move out by March 31.

A U.S. army helicopter passes behind a model of the Korean peninsula in front of Daechuri Elementary School in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province on Tuesday./Yonhap

The government will prepare two resettlement areas and some farmland, with each household receiving plots of 495 to 660 sq.m. Residents may choose from either resettlement area, the final size of which will be determined according to demand.

Regarding living support measures, the government agreed to lower the qualifying age for financial support to elderly evacuees from 70 to 65. They will receive W200,000 (US$1=W940) for 10 years. Each low-income elderly household will receive W10 million to cover moving expenses. Each of the evacuating households will also be provided 26.4-sq.m plots of land designated for commercial use in the newly developed districts, the same size granted to residents who left earlier. The government will also make available 990,000 sq.m of farmland in Seosan, South Chungchong Province. The size of the individual plots provided to households will be set according to total demand.

To implement the agreement, the government, Pyeongtaek City, and village representatives will form a working group until the end of 2008, a government official said. It was the 12th round of discussions about the relocation since talks restarted Jan. 2. Both sides abandoned negotiations on June 20, 2006.
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Having read this article, a friend of mine asked me if this is true.
i replied to him like the following.
-------------------------
i didn't even want to click that frigging Chosun ilbo article. but since you asked me, i followed the link to read it.
well, first of all, it's not just a resettlement.
it's forced displacement.
the words chosen by the ultra right-wing assholes really piss me off, so i just don't go to their website at all.

Anyways, the truth is, the residents have been having negotiations with the government since January, and the government gave the residents an ultimatum, saying "We will give you a relocation village or two, but the residents must leave the village by the end of March. The residents can either take this final 'offer' or refuse to take it and continue to stay in the village. Either way, we don't give a damn, because the village is gone in April. That is for sure."

The residents have got nothing left, no financial aid, no greater support, no hope for the future. So they had to sign the damed deal.
Everyone cried out loud upon hearing this in the afternoon of Feb 13.
http://antigizi.or.kr/zboard/view.php?id=english_news&no=186

☞ Korean government forces Daechuri residents to “agree” to their displacement

*****

PS (2.19):

According to German newspapers last Saturday, 2.17, between 100,000 (Berliner Zeitung) and 200,000 (Junge Welt) protested in the north Italian city Vicenza against the expansion of the US military (air) base there (Dario Fo, who participated at the demonstration: "If they want to build here, they must bomb us before!").

☞ Italians protest against US base (Al-Jazeera)

☞ Vicenza in Struggle - No Dal Molin (struggle/demo statement)

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DEAR

"LEADER"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

PS:

Please, "dear leader", GO TO HELL - as soon as possible!!

I'm sure that millions of people - especially the "ordinary" people in the DPRK - would like to see you never again!! NOBODY WILL MISS YOU (*)!! Aeh~ I'm sorry!!^^

* except some idiots and (parts of) the S. Korean ruling/exploiting class!!

☞ Kim Jong-il 65th birthday quiz

Related stuff:

☞ Kim Jong-il's Birthday Finds Pyongyang in Party Mood (Chosun Ilbo)

☞ Grand Respects For Kim Jong Il’s 65th Birthday (DailyNK)

☞ North Korea Celebrates 5 Days Official Holiday

☞ N.Korea Marks Kim Jong Il's 65th B-Day (AP/Guardian)