CINA

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LONG LIVE THE EXPLOITATION

AND OPPRESSION OF DPRK's

WORKING CLASS..

..by the S.K. capitalist class and N.K. monarchy!!

When the S.K. capitalists and their gov't are watching, for instance last week's struggle in Pohang, they may dream about the perfect possibilities in the DPRK.. There no-one comes to the idea to go on strike, even he/she is getting paid only $50/50,000 Won(migrant workers in S.K., at least, are getting 500,000 W) per month(some people are calling it "salary"). And if the N.K. workers really would come to the(complete stupid - or better deadly) idea to fight for a normal payment... YODOK, or any other concentration camp, is waiting!! And I'm 100 percent sure that nobody in S.K., especially in the ruling class, would ask about him or her, unless the production/profit-making-machine will get in serious problems..

And not only the "real" ruling class profits from this situation: even, for example the so-called "alternative/left" media is trying to take a piece of the cake. Until some days ago Hankyoreh(the English section) had TWO advertisment clips for the Gaeseong Industrial Complex(GIC) - http://www.kidmac.com - on its main page. Today there is "just" one clip about GIC..

Last week(7.18) IHT/NYT published following article about GIZ:

North Korea's well-isolated capitalism

Just north of the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean Peninsula, in possibly the world's most heavily guarded special economic enclave, 500 managers from the South and 7,000 workers from the North are engaged in a capitalist experiment that is anathema to the United States.
 
The South Koreans recently gave a tour of the enclave, the Kaesong Industrial Park, to 200 foreign business executives, diplomats and journalists. The hosts expressed optimism that it would bring peace to the peninsula, then they led the visitors through factories churning out goods for markets in the South and elsewhere.
 
In one of the 15 factories, Taesung Hata, a cosmetics company, about 500 workers wearing dark blue uniforms and white hats operated machines that produced plastic cosmetic containers.
 
Next door, 1,500 workers sat in rows of desks with sewing machines, below ceiling fans and decorative red flowers, making orthopedic shoes called Stafild that were described as "Shoes for Unification."
 
To hear the South Korean hosts tell it, when the special economic zone is completed in 2012, it will house 2,000 companies and employ 700,000 North Koreans.
 
Yet Kaesong's significance is larger still, they say, because it will nudge the North toward embracing economic reforms and opening up to the world, the way Shenzhen did in China two decades ago, and open the path, as the shoes suggest, toward reunification.
 
(The hosts also said they had considered canceling the June 22 tour, which coincided with rising tensions over North Korean preparations for missile tests, but decided against it.)
 
Kaesong is South Korea's biggest project in what some call unification by "small steps," or "de facto" unification. The South does not want formal unification for a few more decades, but its strategy is to narrow the yawning gap of half a century of division through various projects, from manufacturing in Kaesong to uniting the two Koreas' different Braille characters for the blind and sign language for the deaf.
 
"It's de facto unification," said Ko Gyoung Bin, who oversees the 18- month-old Kaesong project at the Ministry of Unification in Seoul. "It's already under way. Unlike the German model, it won't happen suddenly."
 
The two Koreas agreed on building Kaesong when the former South Korean president, Kim Dae Jung, and the North's leader, Kim Jong Il, met in Pyongyang in June 2000.
 
Since then, the exchanges have become so routine that sports authorities on both sides are moving toward fielding a unified team for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
 
With cultural, academic, business, political or military exchanges going on between the two Koreas nearly every week, 80,000 South Koreans visited the North last year.
 
That did not include South Korean visitors to Kumgang Mountain, a North Korean resort opened to foreigners eight years ago. Kumgang has been visited by 1.25 million South Koreans.
 
South Korean regional and local governments, regardless of political leanings, have also undertaken projects with counterparts in the North. More than 60 private organizations now send South Koreans north to assist on agricultural, health and other projects.
 
"We go to North Korea, where we work with our counterparts to show them how to use certain agricultural machines or how to breed better cattle," said Kang Young Shik, director of the Korean Sharing Movement, a private group that has undertaken the Braille and sign-language projects. "They need help from us, though they also feel the need to compete with us."
 
Cho Yong Nam, a director general in the Unification Ministry, said South Korea had projects in 27 out of 206 cities and counties in the North. The common theme, he said, is to raise standards in the North so that, in a unified Korea, North Koreans would not constitute "a displaced, misfortunate minority group."
 
Companies that have come to Kaesong, which is managed by Hyundai Asan, a private company, have received tax breaks and other support from the South Korean government.
 
A new highway and railroad traverse the demilitarized zone before reaching Kaesong, about 65 kilometers, or 40 miles, northwest of Seoul. Soldiers stand watch on either side of the DMZ, with its barricades, barbed wire fences and land mines.
 
In working with North Koreans, South Koreans have said, they have encountered the sometimes unexpected effects of their division: North Korean construction workers, for example, were rated only one-third as efficient as their counterparts from the South. Many North Koreans, with little experience handling machines, have required extensive training.
 
Sometimes, South and North Koreans had trouble communicating because the language spoken on either side of the DMZ has changed significantly. (One project supported by the South is a unified dictionary with new words that have appeared since the division, or words whose meanings have changed.)
 
Last year, the activity here expanded trade between the two Koreas to more than $1 billion for the first time, though only a few of the companies here are believed to be profitable.
 
Kaesong has also become an obstacle in negotiations between South Korea and the United States over a free-trade agreement. The South wants products made here to be included in the agreement, arguing, so far in vain, that most of the materials derive from the South.
 
The Bush administration, which has tried to isolate the North instead of engaging it, recently criticized Kaesong after long withholding judgment. It accused the South of economically propping up the North, as the United States was financially squeezing the North elsewhere.
 
In a recent opinion article in The Wall Street Journal, Jay Lefkowitz, President George W. Bush's special envoy for human rights in North Korea, said projects like Kaesong strengthened Kim Jong Il by pumping "hundreds of millions of dollars into the North, with more to come."
 
Lefkowitz also said he had doubts about whether the North Korean workers actually got their wages.
 
Ko, of the Unification Ministry, rejected such accusations, saying the North Korean workers had to sign their names when they received their wages. The wages average $57 a month, nearly triple the average in the North, he said.
 
According to Hyundai Asan, employees work 48 hours a week. They were picked by North Korean officials, then approved by South Koreans. About 80 percent are high school graduates.
 
Visitors were allowed to speak to the North Korean workers, but supervisors and North Korean guides on the tour discouraged anything but innocuous answers.
 
Peter Beck, who is the Northeast Asia director for the International Crisis Group in Seoul and took part in the tour, said he was impressed by the facilities but that it was still unclear how much of the wages went to the workers.
 
At Shinwon, a garment manufacturer, 300 North Korean workers were cutting and sewing shirts, dresses and blouses in a large, brightly lighted, air-conditioned factory.
 
"I've seen factories of this type in Kenya, Bangladesh, India and Papua New Guinea, and the conditions here compare very favorably," said Frank Gamble, a retired banker and an official with the Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Seoul, as he toured the Shinwon factory. "What South Korea is trying to do here in Kaesong, we've already seen in China and Vietnam and elsewhere. The United States was against investing in Vietnam, but now they're beating down doors to get there."
 
A North Korean official accompanying the visitors expressed anger at criticism from Americans.
 
"I think they're ignorant," he said, refusing to give his name. "They just criticize everybody, including China on human rights. They just want to impose their standards on the world."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/18/news/pyongyang.php 
 

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7.23 이주노동자 문화제

Here reports by MWTV News(in Korean and English):

지난 7월 23일 고려대학교에서는 이주노동자 문화축제 "Migrants Welcome Festival"이 열렸습니다. 이번 축제는 이주노동조합을 비롯하여 네팔, 방글라데시, 필리핀, 인도네시아 공동체, 버마액션, MWTV와 이주노동자 방송국, 오산센터의 공동 주최로 열렸습니다.

 이번 행사는 이주노동자들이 중심이되어 만든 첫번째 문화제라는 점에서 의미가 크며, 다양한 나라의 공동체가 서로 힘을 합쳐 행사를 진행하여 흐뭇한 모습을 자아냈습니다.

행사장은 각 공동체의 문화전시와 전통음식, 방송국 소개와 대안무역등 다양한 볼거리들이 주를 이루었으며 오후에 이루어진 문화공연에는 이주노동자들의 연극, 공동체에서 준비한 전통음악과 함께 이주노동자밴드, 국내 가수들의 공연등 다채로운 무대가 펼쳐졌습니다. 공연 중간에는 테러리스트로 오인되어 보호소에 억울하게 갇혀있는 압둘 사쿠르씨와의 전화연결과 함께 강제추방 반대에 대한 의미있는 목소리를 냈습니다. 서로의 문화를 교류하고, 또 이주노동자의 권리를 위해 함께 노력하는 뜻 깊은 자리였습니다.

The migrant worker cultural festival entitled "Migrants Welcome Festival" was held on Sunday July 23rd at Korea University. This festival was sponsored by the Migrant Worker Trade Union in conjunction with Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Filipino and Indonesian community organizations along with Burma Action, MWTV, Migrant Worker network ([other tv station]), and the Osan Center.

Groups representing several different countries teamed up to organize the festival, which was the first such cultural event focusing on migrant workers, organized by migrant workers.

At the festival, booths featured cultural displays along with traditional food, jewelry and clothing from various countries for sale. In the evening, a concert presenting both traditional song and dance performances along with folk and rock musicians from various countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Korea closed out the festival.

During the concert, a call was made to Abdul Sakur, the Indonesian migrant worker who was arrested under suspicion of terrorist activity and after being proven innocent, he was then sent to the immigration detention center where he has been held for 2 months now. Abdul Sakur, via live phone call broadcast to the crowd, voiced his thanks for the support he has received so far, and spoke out against forced deportation and false allegations of terrorism.

The festival was a chance to not only share the cultures of migrant communities here in Korea, but to promote the rights of all migrant workers living in Korea.

And another report you can read here(by migrantsinkorea.net):

단결과 투쟁을 위한 이주노동자 문화제 열어
이주노조, 시민사회단체연대회의 등 주최

문화제에 참가한 공동체 활동가들과 이주노조 아노아르 위원장이 연대발언을 하고 있다.

이주노조 활동가들이 참여한 마스크 연기가 펼쳐지고 있다. 

이주노동자들과 많은 학생들이 참여한 가운데, 관객들이 행사를 보며 즐거워하고 있다.

필리핀 공동체의 활동가들이 노래를 하고 있다.

인도네시아 공동체의 워커스 밴드(Workers' Band)가 공연을 하고 있다.

Stop Crackdown Band. 스탑 크렉다운 밴드가 공연하고 있다. 

(Source of pics/sub-titles: www.migrantsinkorea.net)

For more pictures please check out MWTV's image archive

http://www.mwtv.or.kr/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=migrant_image 

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DAY 12

Until now in the latest war in the Middle East at least 370 Lebanese, mainly civilians, were killed by IDF. According to Al-Jazeera more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza offensive, the majority of them fighters.  37 Israelis - 20 soldiers and the 17 civilians - were killed too.

Following some reports, analysis and latest news:

The German magazine Der Spiegel published this report last week(7.21):

BEIRUT IN RUINS

Hezbollah's Dead Neighborhood

After more than a week of Israeli bombing raids, Lebanon's southern suburb of Haret Hreik has become uninhabitable. Hezbollah is organizing visits for journalists to the devastated neighborhood that was once its stronghold.

There are wars in which one bombed-out building is shown from different angles so many times that most television viewers end up thinking the whole city has been devastated. There is no need for such tricks in Beirut. In Haret Hreik, a cameraman who wants to show the consequences of war just has to keep on filming -- entire streets in the Beirut suburb have ceased to exist.

A drive to the southern suburbs of Beirut is like a nightmare in which everything only gets worse. At first it's only the burnt smell that reminds you that the ruins alongside the street don't date back to the last war. Next come the craters in the asphalt where bombs have hit, then a burnt-down gas station, and then a newly destroyed highway bridge. But it's only on stepping out of the cars marked "TV" and proceeding on foot that you understand the catastrophe that is playing out in Haret Hreik these days. There is more destruction, more rubble around every street corner -- until the sheer quantity of shattered concrete just blocks your path, stops you from moving further into the chaos.

As many as 700,000 people are thought to have lived in the southern suburbs of Beirut. No exact figures exist of how many called Haret Hreik their home. But one thing is clear: the district is now completely deserted. The Shiite-dominated working-class neighborhood, a stronghold of Hezbollah located between the city center and the airport, has been attacked to the point of being uninhabitable. And the bombs keep falling several times a day. The only people who continue to frequent the neighborhood are the ones who have no other choice, and they don't stay any longer than necessary. Cars race through the streets at speeds as high as 100 kph (62 mph) -- streets where you used to be stuck in perennial traffic jams. Pedestrians keep falling into a nervous trot and cast worried glances skyward. As if that will help -- only two seconds of time separate the sound of an approaching Israeli fighter jet and the detonation on the ground, they say. There's no time to take shelter.

Armed men stand on some street crossings. They're meant to discourage looters and catch Israeli spies. The latter are suspected of being everywhere since war broke out. Some Hezbollah representatives who have agreed to lead a few journalists into Haret Hreik consult with militia members. Is the neighborhood safe? The answer is vague -- move quickly, don't stand around for too long under any circumstances.

The tour leads past bedrooms whose outer wall is missing and stores whose metal blinds have been ripped out by explosions. It leads past a burnt-down store called "Chic-Choc, Bags and Shoes" and an "Oxford Language Center" whose façade lies in pieces on the street. Glass shards from shattered storefronts lie inches-deep on the street and make crunching noises as you walk over them. The stench of trash is in the air. The air tastes dusty from the blasted concrete.

The Hezbollah leaders are nervous. The last attack on these streets happened only a few hours ago, and the next one could be imminent. The men keep in touch with each other by Walkie Talkie -- the signal from a mobile phone could attract Israeli attackers to the group. Drones and spy planes are searching for anything in the neighborhood that's still moving, the men claim. Faint echoes from distant explosions are felt more than they are heard. "That's the airport," one man says. "It's being bombed again."

 
The translator begins to cry as we approach a street where the devastation is particularly bad. "I know this street," she says. "I was often here." She tells us that the burning building down there used to be a children's hospital. The men from Hezbollah are staring down the street too. "If what happened here happened in the USA, in Israel, France or another Arab state, the people would cry, scream and be angry. But it makes us stronger and nourishes our hunger for more fighting," one of the men claims. He says he's glad that fighting on the ground has now begun.

Grim tour with propaganda included

Of course, the quick visit organized by Hezbollah is a propaganda event. According to the men from Hezbollah, everyone who died in the entire area was a civilian. "There were no martyrs -- only civilians died," the leader of the men says. "Why is Israel doing this?" But who can say whether mobile rocket launchers weren't hidden in these densely inhabited residential streets. It's a known fact that Hezbollah -- which is a legally recognized political party in Lebanon, and which is represented in parliament -- had many of its offices and social centers in this neighborhood. It is reasonable to assume that the military section of the militia was also present here.
 
But even if the Israelis did assume that this neighborhood served as a hideout and base of operations -- the attacks on Haret Hreik are not a matter of "surgical strikes" against military targets alone. UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour said on Wednesday that war crimes that need to be punished may have been committed during last week's fighting. The ruins of the residential neighborhood could at least serve as corroborative evidence for the charge of "predictable death or injury of civilians."

A man rushes to the porch where our little group is standing, seeking shelter. He's clutching a bundle of plastic bags. "I thought I could use them to take a few things from home with me," says the man, who is in his mid-40s. But his home no longer exists.

The apartment building that Khaled points to is a crushed concrete sandwich -- steel girders, parts of balconies and the remains of furniture jut out from between the massive concrete slabs. In this case, the cliché is accurate: The man's life is in ruins. Just three days ago, he came here from a northern suburb where he had taken refuge with his family. His house was still standing then. "It must have happened the night before last," he says calmly -- as if he still can't understand what has happened to him.

Asia Times(HK/China) published following in the last days:

Bunkered down for a war of attrition 

Troops poised for ground offensive 

A job half done
 

The arms that keep Hezbollah fighting

The Observer(GB) in its today's edition:

Scared to flee ... even more scared to stay
P. Beaumont talks to refugees from the south of Lebanon as whole families leave all their possessions behind.

Rites and prayer as rockets rain

Are the Shias on the brink of taking over the Middle East?

Our city is being torn by these two brutal foes

IHT/NYT:

A new era with winds of change in Mideast

Haaretz(IL):

Israel believes U.S. will grant it a week to end incursion
 
Lebanese FM: Abducted soldiers in 'good health'
 
 
The two Israel Defense Forces soldiers abducted by Hezbollah on July 12 are "in good health," Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said Sunday.

On the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Jerusalem, senior officials believe Israel has received American approval to continue operations against Hezbollah at least until next Sunday.

Rice will first explore ways with Israel's leadership to end the crisis and begin to shape a new order in Lebanon. She will return next Sunday to try to implement a cease-fire...

Please read more here:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/741445.html 

Rockets hit car in Haifa, carpentry in Haifa suburb
 
Two killed in Katyusha rocket strikes on Haifa

  
Two people were killed and several others were wounded as ten Katyusha rockets slammed into Haifa and its suburbs Sunday morning.

A man was killed in Haifa when rocket shrapnel hit his vehicle as he was driving along a main road in Haifa. A second person was killed when a rocket hit a carpentry shop in a suburb of Haifa.

The full text:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/741722.html

Meanwhile Hamas' Palestinian Information Center wrote last week(7.19) following:

NSB forms first women human bombers

The Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, armed wing of the popular resistance committees, Tuesday declared the formation of the first group of women human bombers in a parade organized in Gaza city.

Shima Al-Quqa, daughter of the martyr Al-Abed Al-Quqa the NSB commander who was martyred two months ago, said that the women contingent would defend the honor of the Ummah at a time the Arab and Muslim men refrained from shouldering their religious and ethical duty towards the Palestinian and Lebanese women and children.

She said that all members of the purely female group had vowed almighty Allah to brandish the weapons alongside the male Mujahideen to confront the Israeli occupation forces.

The spokeswoman asked all Arab rulers to seek shelter underground because "We will remain above the ground defending them and their dignity and the dignity of the Arab and Muslim Ummah".

The group of women carrying Kalashnikovs, RPGs and Al-Yassin projectiles paraded the streets of Gaza city until they arrived at the PLC premises where they burnt the Israeli, American and EU flags after which one of the women drew an X on the Arab League flag then torched it in a clear sign of anger over the AL weak position towards the Israeli crimes against the Lebanese and Palestinian people.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_19235.shtml

And Al-Jazeera reported 7.20:

About 4,000 Palestinians demonstrated in Nablus in support of Hezbollah calling on it's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to attack Israel - Haifa and even Tel Aviv - with rockets.

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..to learn more about the schedule, please check out here:

http://antigizi.or.kr/zboard/zboard.php?id=notice&no=601

Some days ago(7.19) Yonhap was writing this about the planned rally:

Anti-U.S. activists to stage more mass rallies this weekend

About 2,000 activists plan to stage rallies again this weekend to oppose plans to expand a U.S. military base south of Seoul, police said Wednesday.

In May, thousands of anti-U.S. activists and farmers clashed with riot police for several days as the enlargement of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, will require several farming villages there to be leveled.

The protests emerged as the most violent anti-U.S. rallies in recent years, with hundreds of activists and police injured and several hundred more activists briefly detained.

Saturday's demonstration is aimed at urging the U.S. military to scrap its base expansion plan and persuading the South Korean authorities to release activists jailed due to earlier protests held in May, organizers said.

Police said they plan to barricade major roads in Pyeongtaek to prevent protesters from marching through the city.

Meanwhile, pro-U.S. civic groups and merchants in Pyeongtaek said they would hold counter-rallies to help the U.S. military proceed with its base enlargement plan as scheduled.

Camp Humphreys is being expanded in order to accommodate the U.S. Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division near the border with North Korea and other small U.S. bases over the next few years. The plan is part of the U.S. Global Posture Review aimed at transforming its fixed military installations worldwide into more agile and rapid response forces.

The U.S. currently stations 30,000 troops in South Korea, but the troop level is to be reduced to 25,000 by 2008.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20060719/610000000020060719172138E1.html

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Today in the morning(KST), under the threat of massive state terror - the gov't predicted yesterday "bloodshed" - the striking construction workers in Pohang were forced to give up their current struggle.. But the struggle in general isnt't over!!

Hankryoreh, Yonhap reported today following:

Unionized workers voluntarily end sit-in strike at POSCO
 
Unionized workers voluntarily ended their strike at the headquarters of POSCO, the world's fifth-largest steelmaker, on Friday after their union disintegrated, police said.

About 2,400 construction workers hired by POSCO's subcontractors had holed up for eight days at the head office in the southeastern port city of Pohang, about 370 kilometers from Seoul, demanding higher pay and better working conditions.

On Thursday night, the union workers started leaving the 12-story POSCO building after riot police raided it to disperse them. All workers left the building as of around 4:00 a.m. on Friday, according to police.

Police crackdown brings end to week-long strike at POSCO

A police crackdown on striking workers at the head office of POSCO in this industrial city early Friday ended an eight-day demonstration that has disrupted the operations of the nation's leading steelmaker, local police said.

"We have arrested around 120 unionized workers, including their leaders holed up in the office, who remained there in defiance of our demand that they disband voluntarily," police said. "Eight others will also face criminal charges for disrupting POSCO's operations."
The arrests were made during a predawn raid that did not involve serious clashes. Police officers forced their way into the head office after union leaders refused to end their industrial unrest.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20060721/410200000020060721095843E6.html

Korea Times will publish in its tomorrow's edition following:

POSCO Seeks Damage Suit Against Strikers
 
The police have arrested around 120 striking construction workers of subcontractors for POSCO, including 21 union leaders for their illegal nine-day occupation of the company’s headquarters in Pohang, North Kyongsang Province.

POSCO CEO Lee Ku-taek said the world’s fourth largest steel maker would file civil and criminal charges against the strikers for their illegal occupation of the head office, property damage and disruption of operations.

POSCO estimated that it sustained over 200 billion (about ($210 million) in lost production due to paralyzed operations. POSCO shares have fallen about 5 percent since the strike began.

The police said it issued an arrest warrant for Lee Ji-kyong, head of the regional industrial union of the construction workers. The police took the detained workers to nearby police stations for investigation. They said the leaders would face legal charges for violence and unlawful occupation.

The workers occupying the headquarters ended their nine-day strike early yesterday morning following the arrests.

The striking workers began to come out of the building around 10 p.m. Thursday, and all 1,532 workers there left the site by 5 a.m. yesterday, the police said.

On July 13, 2,435 workers occupied the building, demanding better working conditions, but 905 of them had deserted the strike before the collapse of the occupation Thursday night.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, leaders of the workers sent a written message to the police saying that they would voluntarily disperse if the authorities promised not to punish them or claim damage. Some of the workers began to remove barricades that they had set up inside the 12-story building.

One hour later, however, the workers changed their mind and set up the barricades again, following opposition by hard-line workers and a rumor that the authorities would take legal action against them.

The police kept up efforts to persuade them to leave, saying that they would be allowed home after a brief period of questioning.

Workers who were tired of the nine-day strike left the building of their own accord in groups of 30 to 40 amid the internal disputes between moderate and hard-line workers _ the leaders lost control and the illegal strike was finally broken up.

Twenty-four of the 30 construction projects POSCO has been working on were stopped during the strike causing about 10 billion won in losses per day.

It is expected to take more time for POSCO employees to start normal operations as many office fixtures and facilities in the building have been damaged.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, an umbrella union of the construction workers, said a similar strike could take place again unless POSCO solved the underlying problems workers face with subcontractors.

 http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200607/kt2006072115245611950.htm

JoongAng Ilbo is writing this:

137 strikers in custody as sit-in at Posco ends after 9-day siege
 

The sit-in at the Posco headquarters building here ended early yesterday when most of the striking construction workers slowly filed out of the 12-story building between 11 p.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. yesterday. After the strikers who left willingly had made their way out, police entered the upper floors of the building and removed about 30 leaders of the nine-day protest and others still in the building.

There had been signs earlier Thursday evening that the saga was nearly over; but the evacuation began only after conflicting announcements from the strikers of their intentions. Beginning an hour before midnight, some of the estimated 1,500 strikers began leaving in groups of 20 or 30; at midnight, those still inside began removing chairs blocking stairwells and filed out. At about 1 a.m., a group of 300 left the building together.

By 4 a.m., most of the protesters had left. They were interrogated briefly by police, and were released after signing statements promising to appear for further questioning later. The leaders who were seized by police inside the building are being held in custody. They included Lee Ji-gyeong, the head of the union on strike against construction companies under contract to Posco. The union, after talks with the contractors broke down, took their grievances to Posco, which had also provided temporary workers to replace the strikers.

Riot police had made sporadic efforts to evict the strikers by force, but were repulsed with boiling water and flamethrowers fashioned from pipes attached to gas canisters. Eight police were reported injured in the assaults over the earlier four days.
A sizeable number of the strikers left the building after the first police assault Sunday night, in which four policemen suffered burns. The leaders of the sit-in barred the departure of groups beginning Wednesday, allowing only individuals who complained of health problems to leave. But by Thursday evening, most of the workers had had enough.
At 6:10 a.m. yesterday, police declared the incident over. They had deployed 8,000 riot and other police to the scene, and said 137 workers had been taken into custody. They had obtained court warrants to arrest 21 union leaders, 17 of whom were reportedly in custody yesterday.

Posco said it would file civil and criminal charges against the union; its Seoul office is reviewing its options and estimating the assets owned by the union and its members, who are individually liable under Korean law for damage during an illegal strike...

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200607/21/200607212233259539900090409041.html 

But - believe it or not - the final battle against exploitation and oppression will come ..sooner or later!!

본문

The threat of state terror is following

by psycho-war in the media

JoongAng Ilbo's today's edition writes following:

Posco strike off, then it's back on again in 8th day
 
Workers said they needed to have a guarantee they wouldn't be sued

Striking workers told police yesterday they would voluntarily end their eight-day occupation of Posco's headquarters in Pohang, but then quickly retracted the decision.
About 9 p.m. last night, workers began putting back barricades and told police they would not leave the building.

 
A labor union leader inside the building told the JoongAng Ilbo late last night that the construction workers had promised to leave the building on one main condition: a guarantee that they would not be sued for their actions.

However, their employer, the Korean Specialty Contractors Association, then told them that the issue was not negotiable. That's when the approximately 1,000 workers in the building decided to stay.

It had been a tumultuous day. In the morning, the government vowed to use the necessary force to remove the laborers. They also vowed stern punishments for the people involved in the takeover, in North Gyeongsang province.

"Posco is not a negotiation partner of the labor union," Labor Minister Lee Sang-soo said yesterday morning. "It is hard to understand why the union is insisting on negotiating with Posco."

 
During the day, a split in the union appeared to worsen. Labor union leaders barred workers from leaving the building, fearing an exodus, according to police, quoting workers who were questioned after secretly making their way out.

A 53-year-old worker who climbed down an elevator cable yesterday morning while others were sleeping said those who wanted to leave the building had scuffled with union leaders. He said his initial attempt to leave the building with 18 other workers was stopped by others wielding wooden sticks, so he went out alone.

 
Another escapee said the union leaders had been trying to calm the agitated workers. "Many of them worried that they might lose their union membership if they got out after the situation was resolved, and eventually lose their jobs," he said.

 
About 7:30 p.m., some of the workers began removing the barricades from inside the building, after the leadership of the construction workers' labor union provided a written statement to the police that "We all will come down. Please show leniency to all the union members and let them return to their families."

The occupation and strike has cost Posco an estimated 80 billion won ($84 million) as of yesterday, said Ha Dae-ryong, a company spokesman.

The strike began in June, against the contractors association. The 2,500 unionized workers, who have been constructing 24 new production facilities for Posco, sought higher wages and a five-day work week.

On July 11, Posco notified police that the labor union was obstructing its business. Two days later, the angry workers marched to Posco's headquarters building and occupied it.
Posco turned off electricity and air conditioning in the building Tuesday and cut off water yesterday.

The police also released yesterday video footage showing strikers blocking riot policemen from entering the building Tuesday, with some using flame throwers made from liquefied petroleum gas containers, rubber hoses and steel pipes against riot police trying to enter the building. Eight riot policemen sustained burns during the failed attempt to enter the building, the police said. It was unclear if any of the strikers were injured during the confrontation.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200607/20/200607202240367509900090409041.html 

Chosun Ilbo is writing:

Fears of Bloodshed as Gov’t Vows to Break Up POSCO Strike

..

The striking construction workers.. vowed to fight to the end. The Pohang branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions told reporters it had “no choice but to fight to the death” if Cheong Wa Dae is intent on breaking up the strike by force. That has led to fears of bloodshed when police move in to quell the strike, which they are expected to do on Friday or Saturday.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200607/200607200014.html

 

본문

It seems that the ruling class - threatening with TERROR - was/is winning this battle.. (???)

AP/Guardian just few minutes ago reported this:

South Korean Workers to Leave Steelmaker

본문

S.K. capitalist class and its instrument of power - a.k.a. the gov't -  is threatening once again with state terror against the working class!

(노무현독재자..??)

The S.K. semi-official news agency Yonhap reported today:

POSCO cuts off water supply to striking workers at head office

POSCO, South Korea's leading steel giant, turned off the water supply at its headquarters in this industrial city Thursday to pressure unionized workers to end their strike at the main office and disband.

The move comes after POSCO already cut the electricity supply Tuesday...

Presidential office warns strikers to leave POSCO building

The office of President Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday the government will sternly punish local construction workers who have illegally occupied the headquarters of steelmaker POSCO in the city of Pohang for eight days.

In a spokesman's statement, Roh's office, Cheong Wa Dae, said the government will deal with the illegal strikers at POSCO strictly in accordance with law and principles.

The statement came as an estimated 1,000 employees of POSCO's construction subcontractors have illegally occupied the POSCO building since July 13 to demand higher wages, improved working conditions and a ban on employment of foreign workers, among others. Pohang is located about 350 km southeast of Seoul.

Their protracted occupation and illegal strike have paralyzed the operations of POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, resulting in a blow to its international corporate image.

"The construction workers have occupied the headquarters building of POSCO, which is totally irrelevant to their labor demands, in a violent and illegal manner, paralyzing POSCO's operations over a long period," said the statement read by Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Jung Tae-ho.

"That is an obvious illegality which could have a grave impact on social order and corporate management. Thus, masterminds and participants in the illegal strikes should be sternly punished," he said.

Reflecting the government's growing impatience with the POSCO sit-in, the country's chief of police made it clear that if the construction workers did not leave the building soon, action would be taken to evict them.

"Once safety measures are in place, the police will move into the the building to disband the striking workers," said Lee Taek-soon, head of the National Police Agency, during a visit to the protest site.

"The timing for police action will be decided on by the top police officer in North Gyeongsang Province," he said, calling on the workers to immediately halt their illegal protest and leave the building peacefully.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060720/610000000020060720193241E8.html

And the bourgeois Korea Times will report in its tomorrow's edition:

POSCO Strikers Face Breakup
 
Chong Wa Dae said Thursday that it would employ all possible means to disband construction workers occupying POSCO’s headquarters in Pohang for a week-long strike.

``The government will deal sternly with the illegal occupation in accordance with law and principle,’’ presidential spokesman Jung Tae-ho said in a press briefing after a daily meeting of presidential staffers to check on pending issues.

He added those who are involved in the violent demonstrations and those behind the scenes would be held responsible, while also criticizing the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP) for supporting the ``illegal acts.’’

Earlier in the morning, Minister of Labor Affairs Lee Sang-soo also expressed his strong will to launch the forceful removal of the workers unless they voluntarily withdraw from the building.

``The current occupation is a clearly illegal union activity. We urge the workers to immediately withdraw from the building,’’ said Lee at a press conference in Kwachon, Kyonggi Province.

``Unless workers do not break up voluntarily, we cannot but resort to forceful removal,’’ he said.

He said it is incomprehensible that the workers are occupying the building of POSCO, Korea’s largest steel maker, as their negotiation partner is not POSCO but a group of Pohang construction companies. Many of the companies are contractors of POSCO and they have been talking over wages and working environment, on the condition that the striking workers give up their control of the building.

``We are currently not in a position to arrange negotiation talks between the construction workers' union and a group of Pohang construction companies,’’ he said. ``We have set up a task force team geared toward addressing irregularities stemming from the complicated subcontracting contracts in the construction industry.’’

About 2,000 workers from subcontractors to POSCO forced themselves into the company's office building on July 13, protesting against management's decision to request police intervention in a strike led by a regional industrial union of construction workers. The police broke in to disband the protesting workers twice to no avail.

However, in response to the government's statement, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said it will fight till the end until their needs are met. ``We cannot understand the government which calls our occupation of the building as illegal. We will not give up,'' according to its statement.

About 10,000 members of police, including 1,000 members of special crack unit have been around the building getting ready for the confrontation.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200607/kt2006072018054011990.htm 

THE GOV'T LIKELY IS PREPARING FOR CIVIL WAR, OR WHAT!?

Yesterday's protests and clashes with the state power

(사진: 민중의소리)      

본문

DAY 8

United States to Israel: you have one more week to blast Hizbullah (Guardian, 7.19)

Bush 'gave green light' for limited attack, say Israeli and UK sources



An Israeli gunner rests on top of a artillery piece near Kiryat Shmona, northern

Israel, next to the Lebanese border. Photograph: Sebastian Scheiner/AP
 

If it really goes after the will of the US administration in one week, or so, at least half of Lebanon could look like that(and likely 1,000 people will be killed there):

PS.:

Today the first time Hizbullah was attacking Nazareth/An-Nasirah the main/largest Arab/Palestinian town in Isreal, killing two children.

But perhaps in Hizbullah's opinion the Arab/Palestinian inhabitants there are only "collaborators".. and so it's their own problem..

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278460,00.html

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/740309.html

One(Isreali) reader of Yedioth Ahronoth wrote this, related to the attack:

"Hizbollah: An equal opportunity murderer   
       
Our far Left readers will be glad that Hizbollah is carrying on the tradition of Stalin, Mao and Noam Chomsky and other genocidal apologists, in killing everyone on an equal basis; Jew, Arab, Christian, Druze, Sunii, Shiite.." 
 
..HARRHARR