CINA

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Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times published following piece:

Life of Labor Fighter to Be Newly Interpreted 
 

Chun Tae-il (Jeon Tae-il), a labor activist who burnt himself to death at the age of 22 on Nov. 13, 1970 at the height of Korea's development-oriented authoritarian rule, will be promoted as a pioneer in Korea's human rights movement.

The Chun Tae-il Memorial Foundation (CMF) announced Monday a memorial festival for Chun will be held through by grass-root organizations in October ahead of the 40th anniversary of his death.

Chang Ki-pyo, chairman of the foundation, said he would set up a committee for the festival with the labor circle, the political world and religious figures within the month.

The festival will hold a concert, samulnori performances and poetry recitals to remember Chun's spirit of humanism.

Jeon Tae-il monument (Seoul, Cheonggyecheon, near Pyeonghwa Market/평화시장)

Chun has been portrayed as martyr. Park Kay-hyun, secretary general of the foundation, said that this change of approach is aimed at bringing him closer to the heart of the public.

The foundation will combine the existing labor awards and the literature awards for the "Chun Tae-il Award," and expand the number of areas to be cited.

It will start an educational program for migrant workers as well. "We will help migrant workers protect their rights by themselves," Park said.

"Chun's spirit can be summarized as a love for humanity and it is meaningful in such a polarized and materialistic society. These awards will give prominence to Chun as a universally desirable human character."

According to Park, foreign countries such as Germany gave material and emotional support when the foundation was built.

The foundation is trying to renew the image of Chun by emphasizing his humane aspects. It also published a new edition of a critical biography of Chun written by lawyer Cho Yong-nae last year, which was originally written in 1983.

Chun was born in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1948. He worked as a garment cutter at Pyeonghwa Market. By then, youngsters in sweatshops were forced to work 16-hour shifts.

He organized his colleagues to start the so-called labor movement. He requested increasing wages, shorter working hours and health check-ups for the workers.

However, his attempts to make a better labor environment were turned down by employers and indifferent politicians.

His self-immolation was reported internationally. With its social reverberations, some 2,500 labor unions were organized after Chun's death.

His life was cinematized in 1995 in the film "A Single Spark." Actor Hong Kyung-in played the role of the labor activist who took his life for the labor movement.

 
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/02/117_60089.html

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At the General Meeting of delegates, held last Thursday(1.28), the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) selected Kim Yeong-hun as its new chairman.

Kim, a railway worker and former head of the Korean Transport Workers’ Union, will be leading the organization for the next three years.
"On his shoulders is the task of breathing new air into the KCTU as it enters its fifteenth year and restoring the organization to its previously-held standing", The Hankyoreh wrote before yesterday.

But the S. Korean ruling class and its mouthpiece (the bourgeois media) already predicts - and celebrates in advance - a possible "radical change" in the KCTU:

KCTU elects moderate to lead it into the future

- Kim pledged that he would “eliminate the KCTU’s outdated labor protests and deepening intrafactional activities.”
- Kim will change the union’s long-standing aggressive manner. As the largest moderate faction inside KCTU supported Kim in the election, labor issue observers say it is very unlikely for Kim to stage radical actions, such as a general strike...

Source: JoongAng Ilbo (1.30)

Related articles:

☞ Labor group picks moderate leader (K. Herald, 1.30)
☞ KCTU’s new leadership task (Hankyoreh, 1.30)
☞ 민주노총 제49차 정기대의원대회 개최 (KCTU, 1.28)
 

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MEDIACT, an important S. Korean resource/center for independent media education and activism is under massive threat to be terminated by the "ruling" LMB administration!

IMC S.K. (yeah, it's still "alive"!??) published a few days ago following piece:

Media and democracy in South Korea: Save Mediact 

We join those concerned over the regression of democracy in South Korea that has now taken the form of an attack on Mediact, South Korea’s first public media center that has since its founding represented South Korea internationally as a leader in communication rights and democracy, media literacy, intellectual property rights, and public interest media...

Since 2002, Mediact has stewarded a contract to support independent film and video makers, media policy developmet, lifelong media education and public access. For seven years, it has provided an infrastructure focusing on the potential of creating a public media sector based on both shifting technological possibilities of access to the media and ongoing political democratization processes taking place in South Korea.

 
Mediact’s facilities are funded by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), what is supposed to be an autonomous organization funded by the central government to promote Korean cinema within the country and overseas, and an independent activist organization managed by the Association of Korean Independent Film & Video (KIFV). We are highly alarmed by the new KOFIC Chairman's recent decision to dismantle Mediact and force its staff to resign as of February 1.

As Mediact’s counterparts in the international community, we have been long inspired by Mediact’s visionary leadership in the areas of media policy, media education, media production and communication rights. We, the undersigned, urge the government of President Lee Myung-bak to recognize its responsibility for the democracy that has regressed and reorient itself as a government that respects the people's sovereignty and South Korea's continued leadership in media and communication rights. We ask KOFIC together with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to reverse this decision immediately.

http://indymedia.cast.or.kr/drupal/?q=ko/node/2114

Related articles in The Hankyoreh:
☞ International protest storms... (1.28)
☞ Don’t Hesitate: KOFIC should reverse its decision... (1.29)

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The following headline...

"S. Korean MoD Vows Preemptive Strikes Against N. Korea"

...in today's int'l media (here in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth) proves that political cretinism is not Pyongyang's exclusive possession!

Today's Yonhap reported following:

S. Korea will launch preemptive strike in case of imminent nuclear attack

A preemptive strike would be the only way for South Korea to defend itself if it were to confirm North Korea has clear intentions of launching a nuclear attack, Seoul's chief of defense said Wednesday.

The latest remarks by Defense Minister Kim Tae-young come as the two Koreas opened a second day of talks on further developing a joint industrial complex in the North. The talks came just days after Pyongyang warned of armed action against the South over unconfirmed reports that Seoul has drawn up a contingency plan in case of a regime collapse in the communist country. 
 

"We would have to strike (North Korea) right away if we detected that it has a clear intention to attack (South Korea) with nuclear weapons," Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told a local defense forum.

"It would be too late and the damage would be too big if, in the case of a North Korean nuclear strike, we had to cope with the attack. There can be no changes to this principle."

Kim made similar remarks in 2008, then as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shortly after Pyongyang test-fired several short-range missiles off its west coast. In a show of anger, North Korea kicked out a number of South Korean officials then working at inter-Korean project sites. The country also threatened "more powerful" attacks of its own...

And today's Korea Times added:
In regards to North Korea's increased military exercises in recent weeks, Defense Minister Kim said South Korea and the United States had mobilized all their intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to closely monitor nuclear or missile activities in the North. "If the North makes a provocative move, we'll thwart it on the spot...'' Kim said.

And finally 'our favored'(^^) Chosun Ilbo used today's opportunity to add following article (yeah, the 'Dear Leader' will love it!!!):

☞ Think Tank Predicts Kim Jong-il's Death in 2012

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Almost one year ago I reported (with some satisfaction): "IMC S.K. Reactivated!!"...

But how's IMC S.K. these days?

Since several days its website - yet again - disappeared! And - once again - it seems that the project is approaching its final stage...

Therefore some guys who are still interested in the project's survival are calling for renewed (or just final??) efforts to revive IMC S.K.:

The next (South)Korea Indymedia general meeting will be held at the (Yongsan)Rhea Candle Light Media Center, 4pm, Jan 17, Sunday.

Everybody come!

Agenda contents (please add more):

1) new tech team formation; website redesign; learning html and php code
2) outreach and planning possible events
3) content production; film production for the new Korea IMC channel on YouTube
4) Etc...

http://blog.jinbo.net/imc/?pid=91

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Yesterday's Marmot's Hole noted(*) following:
The government has reportedly told the UN to go f*ck itself concerning recommendations made by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) on migrant wives and workers. More specifically, the Ministry of Justice said “the suggestions contained factual errors and were based on a lack of understanding of Korean law.”

* in connection with:
☞ Korea, UN Feud Over Immigrants’ Rights (K. Times, 11.25)

Related statement:
☞ ILO, UN CESCR call for Registration of Migrants' Trade Union (MTU, 11.25)

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Korea Times(9.20) reported that (surprisingly^^)...

Seoul (is) Not Giving Up on Skyscraper Plan near Jongmyo 
 

Seoul City is not giving up on its plan to construct a large building in front of an ancient relic that is designated as part of the world's heritage.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are leading the effort to thwart the development plan but it remains to be seen whether they can.

Last Wednesday, the Cultural Heritage Administration, the government agency responsible for the preservation of old treasures, told the city to put its 122-meter, 36-story building plan on hold, asking for a new plan to prevent the planned building from obstructing the view of Jongmyo, the royal shrine, in downtown Seoul. Jongmyo has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995

Officials at the Paris-based organization were not available, despite repeated attempts to have it respond to the latest developments. The city argues that its building has received the green light from UNESCO but civic organizations argue that the plan would be detrimental to Jeongmyo.

The Cultural Properties Committee (CPC) under the Cultural Heritage Administration, which is composed of experts, concluded that the plan has a risk of blocking views of the old shrine.

The conclusion came after Hwang Pyung-woo, the director of the Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute (CHPRI), a private research center on the preservation of historic relics, asked for a review.

"The city's plan is incompatible with our traditional landscaping. It may be good with the gardens of Versailles, but not to Jongmyo," Hwang told The Korea Times.

The plan is Mayor Oh Se-hoon's pet project to set up more wooded areas in downtown Seoul but Hwang says that it is merely a development plan for more concrete buildings.

Being removed from the UNESCO World Heritage List would be a disgrace, Hwang said. "Jongmyo is a world heritage now and the world should protect and preserve it. It's not an issue for Koreans anymore."

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Korea, an international non-governmental organization of professionals dedicated to the conservation of the world's historic monuments and sites, also asked the city to come up with principles in its development.

"There are two important things: how to preserve the environment of Jongmyo and how to develop old Seoul, inside the four main gates, as a historical city," Lee Sang-hae, the president of ICOMOS Korea said. "The city should have principles in its development plan but it has the habit of improvising as problems occur."

SH Corp., the city-affiliated company in charge of housing development projects in Seoul, is considering several temporary steps.

"There is no specific standard for the height of a building near cultural properties. The committee did not give us particular directions to alter the plan," said an official. "We will discuss the matter with the representatives of the residents and decide how to revise the design."

SH Corp. claims that experts had been consulted and they suggested planting trees in Jongmyo as an alternative. The suggestion was rejected by cultural administration officials.

"Among several ideas, lowering the height of the original plan is the most likely one," the official said. "If we change the height, we have to redesign and go through inquiries and assessment of environmental impact again. Time is money and the delay is related to the commercial viability of the project."

He mentioned nothing about the building plan possibly being nixed.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/09/117_52166.html

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"용산참사 해결하라"

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Following piece (K. Times, 9.05) seems to prove that the "redevelopment" excess in downtown Seoul(*) is becoming limitless:

Seoul’s Skyscraper May Irk UNESCO

Seoul City's plan to build a skyscraper near a Joseon-era relic, designated as UNESCO World Heritage Site, faces strong opposition from a group of historians.

The central government is planning an inspection to see whether the building project is historically insensitive enough to have the relic taken off the UNESCO list of treasures.

The metropolitan government is pushing for a plan to allow the construction of a 36-story, 122-meter-tall building in front of Jongmyo(**), the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).

The new structure, if built, would be located in Yeji-dong(***), Jongno-gu district, and block a direct view of the old relic. City Hall received approval for construction in March...

Jongmyo houses ancestral records of the Joseon royal lineage and kings themselves participated in rituals there.

It is the oldest existing royal Confucian shrine and was added to the World Heritage list in 1995.

"The tall building will block the view of Jongmyo. It will also disturb the serene ambience around the shrine," said Hwang Pyeong-woo, director of the CHPRI.

 
Seoul City said the plan has no problems, citing an opinion by experts it had consulted when it reviewed the plan...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/09/113_51292.html

* Affected: very likely almost all older buildings in the entire area between Dongdaemun and Sejong-no (E-W direction), incl. the complete Pimatgol, and between north of Jong-no and Myeong-dong (N-S direction).

** There (between the shrine's entrance and Jong-no) the Jongmyo Citizens' Park is located!!!

*** Well, Yeji-dong actually is located south of Jong-no(between Jong-no and Cheonggyecheon). And there - surprise, surprise!! - not only ONE skyscraper is planned, as you can see here:

(viewing direction: N-S)

Or an "alternative" plan you can "admire" here:

(viewing direction: S-N)