CINA

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Last Friday(3.08) about 100 'civil servants'(i.e. thugs, hired by Seoul's Jung District Office) attacked...

 
...the Ssangyong Memorial Site nearby Daehanmun - the main entrance of Deoksu-gung(palace) in the center of Seoul - in an attempt to remove/destroy the remaining sit-in struggle tent!

But finally the attack failed(!!) because of the firce resistance by more than 150 activists...

Related articles:
☞ Protesting ex-Ssangyong workers pledge to stay (Korea Times, 3.07)
☞ Arson at Daehanmun Demonstration Site... (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 3.04)

 

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Here some impressions from today's activities...

1. KCTU's "struggle rally" in the center of Seoul(Jongno-gu, in front of Boshingak):

2. "Culture Festival" in Seoul's Hyehwa-dong to support the BELL TOWER STRUGGLE of the Jaeneung Sit-in Struggle Collective(photographed by Kim Seong-man):

Related article:
☞ On International Women’s Day, Korean women face daunting challenges (Hankyoreh, 3.08)

 

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재능 종탑농성 연대를 향한 발걸음
현장으로 찾아가는 문예

매일밤 저녁7시
혜화동 성당 맞은편 재능본사앞

3.05(火): 고태경.최희연.황영수.임정득.임성용.서수창.참여연대 노래패 참좋다
3.06(水): 오혜란.김성만
3.07(木): 목욜은 기독단체연대 기도회로 진행됩니다
3.08(金): 고려진.윤정현 .김홍춘 시인 과 한국작가회의 @ 리얼리스트 100 작가 분들이 함께 합니다

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January 23, Seoul's Jung-gu(district) office ordered that the "SKY Sit-in Struggle Tent Village" nearby Daehan-mun(main entrance of Deoksu Palace) schould be dismantled until Jan. 30. But - of course - the activists there refused...

And now - just one month later - the tent village disappeared (at least for the time beeing)...

 
Sunday(3.03) in the morning a fire - according to the cops a result of an arson attack(surprise, surprise...) - destroyed the entire struggle tent village!

 
The on-site situation(Sunday, around noon):  

More pics and a short report you'll find here!

Related articles:
☞ 대한문 농성촌 방화 용의자 검거...방화 동기 등 논란일 듯 (NewsCham, 3.03)
☞ 대한문 농성촌 화재...인명피해는 없어 (VOP, 3.03)
☞ 대한문 앞 '쌍용차 농성촌' 화재 방화범 검거 (OMN, 3.03)
☞ 대한문 함께살자 농성촌, 원인 모를 화재 발생 (pics by KCTU, 3.03)



 

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"Amid the historically unprecedented outbreak of anti-North Korea protests by Chinese citizens following the North Korean third nuclear test, both state-run media and policy experts are releasing an uncensored flood of criticism against Beijing’s North Korean policy...", today's Hankyoreh wrote.

But - as far as I know - the most aggressive piece, regarding the Sino-NK relationship has been published already two weeks ago in Huanqiu Shibao (环球时报/環球時報, the Chinese version of Global Times). Qiao Xinsheng, Director of the Social Development Research Center at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law(中南财经政法大学/Wuhan), wrote the following editorial:

North Korea is not China’s Firewall

Of the many ideas and suggestions put forth of late surrounding the issue of bilateral relations between China and North Korea, far too many have been specious.
 

Some scholars believe that the historical relationship between China and North Korea must be thoroughly liquidated, and that China does not need to keep North Korea as its own strategic ally.  However, there are also some scholars who believe that North Korea serves as a firewall on the Korean Peninsula; there is, in other words, still a need for its existence in preventing the disintegration of the Korean Peninsula and preserving its own absolutely important strategic balancing role [for] China in Northeast Asia.
 

I believe that, since North Korea is an independent country, well then, North Korea has the right to choose its own development path.
 

Under whatever conditions, China is not obligated to regard the DPRK as a strategic firewall, because, in fact, there is no way that North Korea can offer China sufficient strategic protection. Quite the contrary, North Korea brazenly and unscrupulously undertook provocative behaviors which have already seriously damaged China’s international image.

 
If it is not possible to settle the problem conclusively (literally, solve the problem at one final stroke), well then, China will be placed in a very passive position within the strategic balance in Northeast Asia.
 

North Korea is not China’s firewall. The friendly relations between China and South Korea have already determined that China does not fear the U.S. military presence in the Korean Peninsula. More importantly, by no means should China be worried that the unification of the Korean peninsula will bring it massive harm. 

Peace and stability in Northeast Asia and on the peninsula would be absolutely beneficial to China’s long-term development. If North Korea persists in its obstinate isolation and continues to create trouble on the Korean peninsula, well then, China has no choice but to seek thorough solutions.
 

Some scholars believe that the state of the game between China and America in northeast Asia is very clear: In their view, China should win North Korea over to its side with the purpose of continuously opposing and complicating America’s strategic alliances in northeast and southeast Asia. But there are also scholars who believe that 1) America’s global presence is an indisputable fact, that 2) America’s deployments in northeast Asia are an important component of its global array, and that 3) America won’t change its military deployments in northeast Asia simply because North Korea is standing on China’s side.
 

I believe that the continuous worsening of the North Korean issue has provided America with an excuse for strengthening its military presence in northeast Asia. If the North Korean nuclear issue can’t be thoroughly solved and if normalization on the Korean peninsula cannot be achieved, America’s military presence in northeast Asia will continue. China and America maintain a strategic partnership, and although there are huge differences between the two, China isn’t seeking military or economic benefits [interests]. Therefore, no direct confrontation should occur, on the Korean peninsula, between China and America.

 
As the swords have been drawn and the crossbows are bent between America and North Korea, and as America is trying to use all kinds of tools to topple North Korean regime, there is no need for China to harness itself to the Korean chariot.

 
China is making full use of diplomatic channels to state its position, but at the same time, it should maintain a genuinely neutral position on the Korean issue, or, in other words: China isn’t North Korea’s protective umbrella, and has no desire to play a military role in the resolution of the Korean peninsula’s issues.
 

China doesn’t participate in warfare limited to the Korean peninsula. This in itself is an important political, military and diplomatic attitude. China hopes that all parties on the Korean peninsula thoroughly understand that reliance on growing provocations, the final results will be self-inflicted.
 
 
China appears to be unable to solve the Korean denuclearization issue. North Korea’s willful actions actually put it into an impossible position. North Korea seeks equal diplomatic talks with America, while America just doesn’t want to do business with North Korea’s current regime. If America advances a resolution for sanctions against North Korea in the UN Security Council, including a clause about use of force, China’s best choice should be to “abstain.” In other words: in a military contention between North Korea and America, China won’t be able to help North Korea, and of course, it can’t help America. Both of these countries can’t be sufficiently trusted.
 

In its game with America, North Korea has already lost all its chips, and the US is using North Korea to play into its hands. This [low-level] regional war between North Korea and America [could expand to] create a humanitarian disaster in northeast Asia. As the Korean peninsula’s neighbor, China should work with the international community to do its utmost to solve the problem. Of course, to truly solve the political, economic and unification issues on the Korean peninsula, I’m afraid South Korea will have to do more.

 
I have pointed out before that since North Korea has chosen its own path of development, it should pay the price for it by itself. South Korea’s president-elect is facing a complicated situation, and she must act decisively in making her choices. If she opposes American airstrikes [on North Korea], this may leave leeway for peaceful talks on the Korean peninsula. But if she supports American airstrikes, the Korean peninsula will sink into a very grave disaster. South Korea’s attitude is very important, but the final power of decision lies with America.
 

One can put it this way: North Korea has “broken the glass”, and the initiative in how to take the next steps in dealing with it is in American hands. If the UN Security Council passes a resolution about military sanctions against North Korea, the DPRK can only sit and wait for the calamities to come.

Here you can read the editorial in Chinese!!

Ralated articles:
☞ "Giving Up" on NK Suggested by Chinese Expert (DailyNK, 2.28)
☞ More within China criticizing support of North Korea (Hankyoreh, 3.01)


 

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Since THREE WEEKS Yeo Min-hui and Oh Su-yeong...

... union members of the Jaeneung Educational Institute (JEI) chapter of the Korean Educational Materials Industry Union, are occupying a 20-meter bell tower at the Hyehwa-dong Catholic Church in Seoul...

And yesterday's Hankyoreh reported the following:
 

  Dismissed workers still freezing in rooftop protest

Tutors leading desperate struggle to draw attention to the issue of temporary workers in South Korea  

The scene was a tent erected in front of the head offices of JEI Corp. in Seoul’s Hyehwa neighborhood by the education chain’s branch in the Korean Tutors’ and Education Laborers’ Union. It was the afternoon of Feb. 26, and the union members were looking across the road at Hyehwa Cathedral. Perched 15 meters up on its bell tower were two laid off workers from JEI, 39-year-old Yeo Min-hui and 38-year-old Oh Su-young. Their rooftop protest had reached its 21st day.

Banners on the cathedral‘s outer wall - bearing messages like “Sign a collective agreement!” and “Reinstate all the laid off workers!” - seemed to testify to their desperate plight. The two women’s health has also deteriorated as the protest has drawn out over a three-week period.

“My body‘s swollen up because my blood isn’t circulating well in the cold,” said Oh. “Yeo Min-hui has chilblains on her toes.”

Oh said that she was having a difficult time mentally and physically, but added, “I can’t come down, not until the problem has been resolved.”

It was the 1,895th day of sit-in street protests by former JEI workers. “There’s no hope of an agreement today,” sighed Yu Deuk-gyu, who heads the situation office for JEI’s union branch. “It’s supposed to be the longest-ever struggle at a temporary workplace now.”

Indeed, the battle has been going on for six years already, having started in December 2007. JEI now holds the record over Kiryung Electronics, where workers fought for 1,895 days to have temporary employees with more than two years of service automatically converted to full-time status according to the law.

Why is the JEI fight going on so long? In large part, it is because of an inability to decide whether worker status should be recognized for so-called “special employment positions.” In these positions, people are hired on paper as “contractors,” but work more as laborers. To all outward appearances, it seems like a conflict between labor and corporate management. In reality, it speaks to a larger issue about a particular class of positions.

The union’s demand is simple: it wants recognition from the company. And on that basis, it is calling for the reinstatement of 11 of 12 workers dismissed by the education company over the union issue and the signing a collective agreement that was unilaterally dissolved by JEI. (One of the workers has since died of cancer.)
JEI teachers founded the union in 1999, and even received an establishment certificate from the Ministry of Labor. A collective agreement was in place with the company through 2007. But then came a 2005 Supreme Court ruling stating that the instructors were not actually laborers. JEI dissolved the agreement, using the ruling to argue that it could not recognize labor union activity if the teachers were not laborers.

The battle has been going on ever since.

“These teachers are probably the most ‘laborer-like’ of all the special employment workers,” said Lee Nam-sin, who heads the Korean Contingent Workers’ Center. “The company needs to do the forward-thinking thing and recognize their union.”

The company, for its part, said it felt a “grave sense of responsibility” about the protests dragging on for so long and indicated plans for “active dialogue” with the union.
But to solve the problems of those is such special employment occupations as golf caddy and insurance planner, a change to the law is necessary. Currently, they are classified as “employers,” which means they receive no labor law protections. If the law isn’t amended, the JEI situation will likely be replayed again and again.

Last year, Seoul Administrative Court issued a ruling that disputed the Supreme Court’s position. In a retrial case filed by JEI union members demanding the overturning of their improper dismissal and restitution for improper labor activities, the court recognized that JEI instructors were “laborers as defined by labor law.”

“I heard that Park Geun-hye has said she is going to work to solve the irregular worker problem within her term,” said Yu Deuk-gyu. “The more than two million special employment workers nationwide represent the leading example of temporary employment.”

“They need to have their worker status recognized so they can go about improving their own working conditions,” Yu added.

 http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/575760.html 

Related articles:
☞ "재능지부 조합원들 믿고 끝까지 버티겠습니다" (NewsCham, 2.28)
☞ 종탑 생활 3주째... "부모님은 남미여행 간 줄 알아요" (OMN, 2.26)

And finally here you can watch a video, documenting yesterday's Culture Festival in Seoul's Hyehwa-dong(in front of JEI)!