CINA

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The KTX Crew Workers’ Branch Union’s (철도노조 KTX승무지부) struggle is the longest and most bitterly waged fight by women workers in the history of Korea.  For over 500 days, women who work as train attendants on the KTX bullet trains have held public rallies and marches, occupied buildings, lectured in classrooms, and conducted outreach on the streets and at train stations throughout the country.  But until now KORAIL is refusing to meet the union’s demands for gender equality, safe working conditions and contracted employment.

So the KTX workers' union published already some days ago (7.13) following..

URGENT APPEAL for INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

On March 1, 2006, approximately four hundred women who work as train attendants (similar to flight attendants) on the KTX “bullet train” began a strike to demand the end of discriminatory and unjust outsourcing practices of the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL).  KORAIL officials led KTX women workers to believe that although they were initially hired under short-term contracts via an external company, they would be granted permanent status as direct employees of KORAIL after one year.  However, the KTX Crew Workers Branch Union’s demands for direct and permanent employment have yet to be met.

To date, the KTX Crew Workers’ Branch Union’s struggle is the longest and most bitterly waged fight by women workers in the history of Korea.  For over 500 days, women who work as train attendants on the KTX bullet trains have held public rallies and marches, occupied buildings, lectured in classrooms, and conducted outreach on the streets and at train stations throughout the country.  KORAIL’s continued refusal to meet the union’s demands for gender equality, safe working conditions and secure employment have led union leaders to engage in desperate measures to expose the unjust and unequal conditions under which they are forced to work.  After exhausting every tactic, 31 union members began a hunger strike on July 2, 2007.  As the hunger strike surpasses its 14th day, many union members have been rushed to the hospital.

Despite KTX’s sleek and high-tech image as the fifth fastest “bullet train” in the world, it is the site of blatant sexism and labor abuse.  Of those train attendants who are irregularly employed under outsourcing agreements, the majority are women.  In contrast, their male counterparts who perform comparable duties are directly employed by KORAIL as “team leaders.”  Simply by being women, KTX train attendants are subject to lower wages, harsher working conditions, and heightened job insecurity.  In addition, women workers face the perpetual threat of dismissal if they speak out against unfair conditions and sexual harassment in the workplace. 

According to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, KORAIL’s treatment of KTX female train attendants is a clear example of gender discrimination and a basic violation of human rights.  The National Human Rights Commission has strongly recommended that striking KTX women workers be granted fair and just conditions of employment.  The South Korean Minister of Labor, the legal community, various media outlets, 500 university professors, 300 members of the literary community and a wide cross section of NGOs including the Korea Women’s Association United, Lawyers for Democratic Society, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Korea Women Workers Association United, and the People’s Coalition for Media Reform have also called upon KORAIL to reinstate the striking workers as directly hired employees, not as contingent workers contracted through a third party. However, KORAIL continues to disregard this overwhelming public outcry.

KORAIL, the nation’s largest public enterprise and employer of over 30,000 people, refuses to abide by the most basic and fundamental standards of fairness and equality.  KORAIL’s actions violate South Korean laws that prohibit all forms of discrimination, as well as international standards established by the ILO to protect the rights of workers. KORAIL is also failing to comply with the international standards that the company itself pledged to uphold when it joined the UN Global Compact in May 2007.

KORAIL’s blatant violation of the basic principles of democracy and human rights deserve international criticism.  KORAIL’s actions are indicative not only of the pervasive inequality facing contingent workers in South Korea, but also of systemic gender discrimination in South Korea.  We urge the international community to stand in solidarity with the KTX Crew Workers in its brave fight for justice. We respectfully request your signature on this petition letter in support of the KTX women workers. This letter will be sent to President Roh Moo-hyun and UN Secretariat General Ban Ki-moon, as well as the CEO of KORAIL.

Source: LabourStart/Global Voice for Justice

Related:

☞ KTX Workers' Struggle. A Slide Show (with English subtitles)

☞ "숨바꼭질" 300 Days of Struggle (video docu by Hong Gil-dong, Korean)

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Before y'day (7.22) MTU, together with many solidarity groups/activists celebrated comrade Anwar Hossain's (former chairman of MTU) "Farewell Party". On Thursday (7.26), after almost 11 years exploited and oppressed in S. Korea - he had to spend even one year in immigration detention center - he will go back home to Bangladesh. 

22일 연세대학교 학생회관 3층 푸른샘에서
아노아르 동지의 환송회가 있었습니다.

이주노동자들의 자신들의 조직인 이주노조를 만들어지고
초대 위원장으로 아노아르 동지,
정말이지 헌신적이고 열정적인 활동으로
여러동지들, 연대 단위들, 우리 운동에
많이 기여해 주었습니다.

표적연행되어 1년여간 보호소에 갇혀서도
힘있고 단호하게 싸웠기 때문에
함께 싸우는 사람들이 용기얻어 단호하게 싸울 수 있었습니다.

귀국을 앞두고, 명동성당에 들러 몇시간이고 있다가 왔다는 아노아르 동지,
한국에서 멋진 모습, 직접 보면서 활동할 수 없어 아쉽기는 하지만
우리는 국제 운동의 일부니까요,
어디에서든,
함께 싸우고 있을 겁니다.
동지의 모습 떠올리며 용감하게
이주노동자들의 인권과 노동권 쟁취하는 그날까지
'함께' 싸우고 있겠습니다.

건강하세요.

(Source: 버리동지 on MTU)

Following just some (photo) impressions about the event:

 (Source: 아노아르환송회, incl. many more pics.)

Related:

☞ "자리를 옮기는 것 뿐입니다" (Interview with Anwar, by Chamsesang)

☞ Urgent appeal campaign for Anwar同志 (2005.6.09)

☞ 나를 연행한 것은 노동운동 탄압이다! (video by Hong Gil-dong, 2005.5.16)

Anwar behind bars - Immigration Detention Center,

summer 2005

Update (7.25):

Today's Hankyoreh published following article:

Life is still difficult for migrant workers in Korea

 
Migrant workers’ union founder makes the difficult decision to leave, following years of fighting for the rights of migrant workers
 
 
A 25-year-old Bangladeshi man came to South Korea in May 1996, leaving nine brothers and sisters in his homeland. As he had only obtained a 3-month tourist visa, he was not allowed to work legally in Korea. However, he got a job at a plastic factory in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, with the help of a broker. He had initially thought, “I will stay here for three years at the most and return to my homeland after earning a lot of money.” Now, ten years have passed. The young man who had been dreaming the “Korean dream” has become a fighter via the stark realities of his tough life here. He is determined to make a world in which all laborers are treated as human beings regardless their nationality.

Anoar Hussein, 36, who established the Migrants’ Trade Union, the nation’s first trade union for migrant workers, in April 2005, will return to Bangladesh on July 26. He has made this difficult decision because it has not been easy for him to extend his visa and he can to take better care of himself in his homeland. He has had to suffer a great deal of hardship since coming to live in Seoul.

These days, he is concerned about the South Korean government’s plans to crack down on undocumented migrant workers in August. “I am so sorry that I am leaving a situation in which I have many things to do. It is even more burdensome to leave Korea than it was to come here,” he said.

When he first joined the migrant workers’ campaign, he did not intend to found a movement, but living and working in an environment in which he has often suffered from abuse and ill treatment has caused him to want to stand up for his rights and those of the people around him. “I worked hard at a fabric factory in Seongsu-dong for over 12 hours a day, but I only received 700,000 won (US$ 765) a month. Sometimes, I didn’t get my wages for three months,” he said. Though he and those he met near the factory where he worked were of different nationalities and often faced a language barrier, they were easily united through their common cause. “We just wanted to be treated like human beings,” they said. Thus began his fight.

Following implementation of the Employment Permit System in 2003, the government has granted legal status to just 227,000 foreigners and urged the remaining 120,000 undocumented foreign residents to leave the country immediately. The government then deported over 100,000 undocumented workers.

In November of the same year, approximately 100 foreign workers, including Hussein, staged a sit-in under a tent at Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral in downtown Seoul calling for the government to stop forcefully repatriating foreign workers and legalize undocumented laborers at once. The demonstration lasted for 380 days. “I was impressed by the South Korean students and citizens who supported us. I stopped thinking that all South Koreans were same and that it was useless to fight,” he said. The struggle led to the founding of the Migrants’ Trade Union.

However, it has not been easy. Despite the fact that the court has declared that undocumented foreign workers do have the right to form unions, the Ministry of Labor has still not recognized this right.

Hussein established the labor union for foreign workers in April 2005 and became its first leader, but was arrested by the police 20 days after the union was launched and imprisoned at Cheongju Immigration Office for a year. During that time he was monitored 24 hours a day and lost 8 kilograms. “I was so displeased with the behavior of my fellow inmates and I thought of committing a suicide almost everyday,” he said. For some time after he was released, he had to receive mental treatment, he added.

When he returns to Bangladesh, he will continue to work in the labor and social movements, building upon his experiences in South Korea. “I haven’t given up on seeking rights for migrant workers in South Korea. Wherever I am, people will be able to meet me through the international solidarity of the social justice movement,” he said.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/224718.html

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E.Land/Homever Capitalists: The Strike

is a Result of "Devil's Temptation"!!

It seems that after the (first???) massive wave of STATE TERROR against the striking workers of E.Land/Homever is over, the capitalists and their collaborators (for example in the S.K. media) declared a psychological warfare/"PSYCHO TERROR" against the labour union (KCTU) activists.

Korea Times reported today that:
 

"The nation’s major retailer E-Land Group is suspected of sending hateful e-mail to its unionized workers who are in protest over the management’s massive layoff of non-regular workers. In the e-mail, the writer compared its striking workers’ protest to an action caused by devil’s temptation."

And it continued:

According to the company’s labor union Sunday, hundreds of unionized workers received the e-mail which was sent under the name of Kim Young-soo, the president of E-Land World, an affiliate of the group.

In the e-mail, Kim asked workers to pray three times a day, so that ``striking workers repent before the God and never get tempted by devil again.’’ The writer also said that they should pray so that ``the God can make union leaders get arrested’’ and ``workers do their best as faithful servants who do not complain about their salaries.’’..

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/07/117_7024.html

And the reactionary Chosun Ilbo agitated today extreme aggressive:

The KCTU Hurts Workers' Interests

 
In retaliation against the use of police to break up an illegal sit-in by contract workers at discount retailer E-Land, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has announced a full-blown battle against the company, including a campaign to boycott its products. On Saturday, the KCTU held protest rallies in front of E-Land stores across the country, demanding the release of union members who have been arrested. The KCTU vowed to continue its boycott until July 27. The New Core outlet branch in southern Seoul as well as 29 stores across the country had to halt business for one to two hours. Because the KCTU had interfered in the labor dispute at E-Land, an amicable solution between management and the non-regular workers has become impossible and police had to intervene.

 
During earlier talks, management at E-Land had accepted a majority of the union’s demands, including an end to outsourcing cashiers, while rehiring those who had already been reclassified as being employed by outsourcing companies. But the union refused to back off even one step from its original demands, including the rehiring of outsourced workers within a month. That’s because the KCTU’s objective has nothing to do with improving the working conditions of E-Land non-regular workers. The KCTU just wanted to use the E-Land situation as a rallying cause for its fight for all non-regular workers.

Just like during the GS Caltex strike in 2004 or the POSCO Engineering & Construction strike in 2006, whenever the KCTU interferes, scores of workers lose their jobs, many of them end up being jailed, and their companies are hit hard as well. In other words, everyone loses whenever the KCTU steps in.

Launching its boycott of E-Land products, the KCTU said it would be a fight to see whether the company closes down or the KCTU lowers its banner once and for all. If E-Land closes down, both regular and non-regular workers will lose their jobs. Yet the KCTU has vowed to fight until the company goes broke and it’s doing it in the name of E-Land workers. If the unionists of E-Land want to live, they will have no choice but to turn their backs on the KCTU.

 
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200707/200707230024.html

But while the capitalist class is trying to smash the labour union's activities, there's also an international solidarity! For example by

☞ E.Land workers in Korea
fight for their jobs and families

Related:

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).. launched campaign to boycott E-Land products in protest against management’s layoff of non-regular workers and the government’s crackdown on striking workers

7.21, the first day of boycott against E.Land

  
   ``E-Land, which is anti-labor and anti-social, has no longer the right to operate as a company. We will continue our full-fledged campaign to boycott the company’s products to force it out from the market,’’ said Lee Sok-haeng, chairman of the KCTU. ``We will also keep demanding the government apologize for its crackdown on workers who fight for their rights to live.’’.. (K. Times, 7.23)

☞ 폭력 진압 이후 이랜드 매출 제로 투쟁, 29 매장 스톱 (P. Times, 7.21/incl. video)

☞ E.Land dispute escalates after crackdown on sit-in (Hankyoreh)

자본주의 박살내자!

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December 2001 - short after the ("official") destruction of the Taliban rule by the US/NATO forces the West promised the people of Afghanistan: "PEACE, FREEDOM, DEVELOPMENT, PROSBERITY.."

Now, just two month ago (5.29) and nearly six years later  the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published following smal excerpt of the daily reality in Afghanistan:

Opium abuse harming women’s, children’s health

Sadaf started consuming opium seven years ago after she could not find any medicine to overcome a headache that had bothered her for weeks. “When I first smoked opium I felt dizzy for a while, but did not have a headache - so I continued,” the mother of four told IRIN in the Yamgan District of Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakshan province.

Sadaf smokes locally produced opium with a tiny hookah three times a day with her children huddled around her. In the intoxicating atmosphere of the mud hut filled with opium smoke there is no chattering by her children; they look dazed and silent.

 Sadaf and Bibi Mullah smoke opium thrice a day

Grabbing the head of her four-year-old son who has pneumonia, the mother puts a blowback of smoke into his mouth and puffed a second breath at his face. “I do this to make him calm and sleep well,” Sadaf said to justify her actions.

 
Fanila Zaki, a health worker in Badakhshan, said many such children suffer from acute respiratory diseases caused by frequent exposure to opium smoke.

“Some mothers think when their children do not cry and sleep they are fine,” said Zaki, “but that is simply incorrect and misleading”.

High maternal mortality

With some 1,600 mothers dying per 100,000 births, Afghanistan has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, officials at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) office in Kabul said.

In Badakhshan, 6,500 mothers out 100,000 die while giving birth - the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, the UN agency says.

Opium abuse exacerbates the situation, specialists say. Women who consume opium during pregnancy lose much of their energy and become vulnerable to different diseases, the provincial health department reported.

“Most addicted mothers suffer from asthma, coughing and lung problems which make them very weak to endure the burden of pregnancy,” a local health worker said.

Health workers say some addicted mothers also loose the chance of a future pregnancy because opium addiction damages their uterus.

Financial burden

I sold my land in order to afford my addiction. 
Addiction has put a heavy financial burden on many poor families, plunging them deeper into poverty and social insecurity.

“I’ve been spending 200 Afghani [US$4] on opium every day for the past seven years. I sold my land in order to afford my addiction,” another addicted woman, Bibi Mullah, said.

Badakhshan, one of Afghanistan’s most isolated, underdeveloped and poverty-stricken provinces, has a rugged terrain that impedes movement in its sparsely populated districts.

There is no official data about the number of drug addicts in Badakhshan. However, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) says one million people have drug addiction problems in Afghanistan of which 45,000 are women.

Poor health service

According to Mohammad Alim Yaqoobi, head of the UNODC office in Badakhshan, the majority of people in Badakhshan lack access to health services and awareness about the harm of opium addiction.

“People tend to consume opium as a painkiller. It takes time until they actually realise that opium itself is a disease and that they are addicted to it,” added Yaqoobi.

Locals in the district say if health services were provided they would not use opium as a substitute for medicine.

In Yamgan and many other districts of Badakshan, donkeys are the only means of transport for the locals. A resident of Jokhan village in Yamgan District needs two days, either on foot or by donkey, to reach the nearest medical facility. Opium is thus considered a readily available option.

UNODC has been working in Badakhshan to raise the awareness of local population about the risks associated with opium addiction.

However, given the high rate of illiteracy in the estimated 900,000 population of Badakhshan, it is very difficult to maintain a robust public information campaign. Some 3,730 opium-addicted individuals who had received treatment in Badakhshan resumed opium consumption shortly after the rehabilitation, according to UNODC.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72419

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Already yesterday the S.K. gov't. - i.e. the power instrument of the ruling (capitalist) class - promised, better said threatened to "solve" the E.Land strike in behalf of the capitalists. And only few hours later they fulfilled their "promise"/THREAT by using STATE TERROR!!

(BTW.. I'm sure that the coming, likeley conservative govt. will/can not act worse than the present "progressive" gov't.!!) "Thousands of riot police stormed the two E.land Group outlets in Seoul.." Korea Herald reported today.

Police End E-land Strike (K. Times, 7.20)

Police cracked down on striking union workers at the nation’s major retailer E-Land Group, Friday.

The workers held a sit-in Friday for the 21st day in the Homever outlet in Sangam-dong, and the 14th day in the New Core outlet in Gangnam _ to protest the massive dismissal of non-regular workers.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested protestors at the two outlets by dispatching 7,000 policemen to the sites.

When police arrived nearly 9:35 a.m., 140 employees at New Core in Gangnam District and 80 others at Homever outlet in Sangam-dong folded their arms and began resisting arrest by lying on the floor, leading to fierce scuffles between the protestors and police. However, within one hour, all of them were taken to the police station.

About 200 members of the major labor group Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and family members of the protestors denounced the government’s use of police force by holding an overnight demonstration. Lawmakers Sim Sang-jeong, Roh Hoe-chan, Cheon Young-se and Kwon Young-kil at the progressive Democratic Labor Party visited the outlets and strongly protested against the police for its crackdown.

 sources of the pics: OhmyNews

``The government’s use of police force in dealing with E-Land situation, which symbolizes the problems of the government’s new labor bill on non-regular workers, is of no use in reaching a desirable solution. We should congregate our efforts to revise the bill, since it is an evil law that only accelerates financial polarization of the society,’’ said Dan Byung-ho, a lawmaker at the party.

Despite constant negotiations, the union and management failed to narrow their differences over employment security, salaries, upgrading non-regular workers to regular employees and management's lawsuit against the union.

Labor Minister Lee Sang-soo warned Wednesday that the government would use police intervention if illegal protests become persistent.

E-Land laid off more than 900 non-regular employees at Homever and New Core before the country's new labor law regarding them took effect this month, provoking the protest by the union.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/07/117_6881.html

Related:

☞ Unions call for boycott after police end sit-in (JoongAng Ilbo)

☞ Police crack down on E-Land strike (Hankyoreh)

☞ Riot police bust up E.Land sit-ins (K. Herald, 7.20)

☞ STATE TERROR & WORKERS' RESISTANCE (video by Chamsesang)

☞ 이랜드매장 점거농성 노조원 강제연행.., but 후폭풍 거세질듯 (P. Times..)

☞ 상암기자회견 - 노무현 정권의 비참한 말로를 선언한다!! (..incl. video)

☞ 홈에버 농성자 연행, 그 숨가빴던 40분 (OhmyNews)

☞ "오늘 노무현대통령 실수한 겁니다" (노동의소리)

☞ 이랜드.. 농성장 경찰력 투입을 강력히 규탄한다. (MTU statement)

 자본주의 박살내자!

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While the capitalists of E.Land Group have no intention to give up their hard-line policy against "their" irregular workers the struggle must/will continue until the demands of the Labour Union will be fulfilled! But meanwhile the S.K. govt., in behalf of the E.Land capitalists, is preparing to use its "only and best" mean to "solve" labour disputes/problems... by using STATE TERROR against the striking workers!!

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Latest news about the E.Land struggle/strike..

Today's bourgeois (conservative) JoongAng Ilbo published following article:

E.Land strike grinds on, no end in sight

Although there is nothing new about labor-management struggles in Korea, the ongoing strife at retail giant E.Land is a fresh chapter.
Unlike previous disputes involving wage complaints or work rule disputes, this incident was ignited by a new labor law giving greater rights to non-regular employees.

As a result civic groups say the strike carries moral force and is a test case for forcing companies to respect the new law.

 
When E.Land Group, an operator of the discount chains Homever and New Core, failed to renew the contracts of roughly 750 irregular workers before the new law went into effect, they were off the hook legally, but their union was enraged.
The group’s Homever and New Core affiliates let irregular workers ― mostly cashiers ― go because the new law that went into effect July 1 requires companies to change the status of all irregular workers who have worked for more than two years to regular workers.

The law was designed to protect irregular workers, who have an uncertain status and lower wages than regular workers despite working similar hours.
The union claims that those who were fired thought it was unfair and they occupied various store locations beginning June 30. Two flagship stores are still occupied, and police and management have been trying to lure the union members out of the two buildings.

 
On Sunday, union members at New Core shaved their heads in protest. “These are my coworkers and they are like my family,” said Kim In-sik, a manager of New Core’s Ilsan store, in explaining why he supports the dismissed contract workers.
Yesterday, E.Land union members continued their sit-in at the World Cup branch of Homever in northwest Seoul and at the Gangnam branch of New Core. The stores have been shut down for 18 days and 10 days, respectively.
Talks at the Seoul Labor Office between labor and management yesterday got nowhere, and there is no end to the dispute in sight.

 
Yesterday was the third try by the two sides to reach a deal. Labor and management met first on July 10, but the meeting lasted just three hours. On Saturday, the parties negotiated through the night, breaking up at 6 a.m. after 11 hours with no agreement other than a decision to conduct talks over Homever and New Core separately.

New Core management suggested that if all irregular workers were given regular jobs, they would cut wages by 2 to 3 percent this year in exchange for an end to the sit-in. The union rejected the offer.

Homever said yesterday that it would convert non-regular workers who have been working for more than one year to an employment status that offers wages based on performance incentives. Workers who have been with the company for more than 18 months would be guaranteed a regular job with fixed wages.

 
The union, however, demanded that all workers with two years tenure or more be converted to regular employees with fixed wages regardless of performance and that workers with three months tenure or more be guaranteed a job.

Unlike many union demonstrations, the public seems largely sympathetic to the E.Land employees. Many civic groups announced a boycott of E.Land products Monday, saying that the company abused its authority in firing irregular workers and shirking its social responsibility.

Fifty-seven groups, including the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Korea Women’s Associations United, and the Korean YMCA held a press conference Monday in front of the Homever World Cup branch to launch the boycott.

“Companies have been taking shortcuts by firing contract workers to cut down on costs and avoid responsibility and E.Land’s mass dismissal is the representative case of abuse,” said Kim Min-young, secre tary general of People’s Solidarity. “Civic groups nationwide have been pleading with the government and E.Land to resolve this in a logical manner, and yet the company is only suing the demonstrating workers and asking for compensation while the government is sitting back and watching.”

On Monday, the National Human Rights Commission investigated after receiving reports that union members were being locked up in the store by the management. They will issue a report this week.

 
As the demonstration goes on, however, the union is losing some support from otherwise sympathetic entrepreneurs who have independent shops in New Core. In Korea, large retailers rent out much of their space to smaller owners who operate retail stalls inside the building.

 
“At first we felt very sorry for the irregular workers because they receive such low wages, but [because of the protests] customers are scared to come to the shops now,” said Shin Hyun-jai, head of the New Core shop owners’ emergency committee. “But these problems highlight the flaws of the irregular worker law, showing that companies can abuse it instead of using to it to protect employees.”
According to the union’s Web site, though, resolve is strong. “My heart aches but hopefully we can fight toward victory,” said union member Jeong Young-ki on the site.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2878180

Hong Gil-dong's (숲속홍길동) latest video ducumentaries about the struggle you can see here (7.16) and here (7.17).

Related article:

☞ Labour strife escalates as new labour law comes into effect (interlocals.net)

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About two weeks ago the (reactionary) S.K. newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that the conservative/reactionary Grand National Party(Hanara-dang) proposed in its "Vison for Peace on the Korean Peninsula" for example the "complete permitting of North Korean newspapers and broadcasts in South Korea". (*)

But just yesterday the same newspaper had to report following insane stuff:

Man Held for Posting Slews of N.Korean Propaganda

 
Police have arrested a man on charges of violating the National Security Law by posting some 3,000 pro-North Korean documents on the websites of 20 civic organizations. The man identified as Kim downloaded documents from pro-North Korean websites to which South Korea blocks access and uploaded them on the websites. He was arrested on July 10. Police say Kim himself posted 300 of the 3,000 documents and are reviewing some 2,000 seized CDs. But after Kim was arrested, more pro-North Korean documents were posted on the websites of some civic organizations with his ID, police said. Police are investigating whether Kim is part of a larger organization...

 
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200707/200707160016.html

* ☞ GNP Softens N.Korea Policy

국가보안법 박살내자!

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26 E-land Unionized Workers Arrested (K. Times, 7.15)
 

Police arrested 26 union members involved in the E-land strike held in protest against the massive dismissal of non-regular workers at the retailer’s major outlet in Sangam-dong, Seoul, Saturday, for violating demonstration-related laws.

About 60 union members clashed with police as they made their way into the outlet to support the E-land workers.

The protest, which started on July 1 at E-Land's Homever outlet there, expanded to more than 20 other Homever and New Core outlets in other cities. The union is planning to expand their sit-in protests to other outlets.

While the union is calling for management to participate in talks over the reinstatement of dismissed workers, the management is firm on its position that they will not participate in negotiations unless the union halts the strike or accepts arbitration from the Ministry of Labor.

E-land laid off more than 900 non-regular employees at Homever and New Core before the country's new labor law regarding them took effect this month, provoking the protest by the union.

The new law requires employers to change the irregular status of employees to regular if they are employed for over two years. E-Land management dismissed its non-regular employees to save additional costs.

The Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which the E-land union belongs to, has committed to support its members and several civic groups are also supporting the union, criticizing E-land management for abusing the new law...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/07/117_6518.html

☞ Police block access to E-Land outlets (Hankyoreh)

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