Ssangryong Motors Incident Indicts

"A 30 meter tall transmission tower is charged with a high voltage current. A makeshift building of a little over 2 square meters at the height of 20 meters looks quite cold.

The dismissed workers of the Ssangryong Motors are on stay-in strike there despite the cold of winter. Cooked rice boxes provided by pulley enable them to remain alive for 42 days. There is a good reason why they stage such a struggle."

That is part of a south Korean radio report on stay-in strike of workers of the Ssangryong Motors on a steel tower to mark the New Year.

Then, what made them greet the New Year with a fierce struggle in the cold winter not in hope and delight?

In May 2009 workers of the Ssangryong Motors went on a general strike against the company side's plan to enforce a lay-off.

It was a justifiable struggle to defend their vital rights against the arbitrariness of the enterprising body.

The Lee Myung Bak group, however, brutally suppressed the strikers in favor of the company side seeking only profits.

The group of traitors cut off the supply of food, gas and water for workers and perpetrated a bloody crackdown on the innocent workers on the strength of fascist gangsters heavily armed with clubs, iron bars and electric guns.

In the end several workers were killed and many others were injured or taken in custody.

That is how the Ssangryong Motors incident took place.

The Lee group caused the incident and deteriorated it systematically.

The conservative ruling quarters on the side of a handful of owners of big businesses shifted the blame for the economic crisis onto the workers and encouraged lay-off, mercilessly suppressing the workers resisting to it.

They also charged the workers of their struggle for vital rights and committed a despicable destruction of labor unions.

At the end of his tenure of office traitor Lee transferred the settlement of the incident to the next regime, pretending that he is not answerable for it.

The Ssangryong Motors incident shows that it is foolish to want something from the puppet conservatives, servers of big businesses and the south Korean workers should resolutely put an end to the misrule of the traitors if they are to lead a worthwhile life.

Pok Un Hui

Suppression of Trade Unions in south Korea protested against

 S. Korean Authorities' Fascist Suppression of KCTU Protested
Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) -- The south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a statement on Jan. 17 in protest against the puppet authorities for their fascist suppression of workers.
    The statement accused the authorities on Jan. 16 of hurling police into an operation to indiscriminately crack down on the workers' sit-in strike demanding a solution to the labor issues including layoff, abolition of part-time jobs and a halt to the destruction of trade unions.
    Through this crackdown they wounded strikers and arrested 8 persons including the head of the organizational department of the Metal Workers' Union, it noted.
    The KCTU can no longer remain an onlooker to the present regime's brutal suppression, it warned, calling for intensified actions against the fascist crackdown upon workers. -0-
 

S. Korean Authorities' Suppression of Labor Movement Protested

 Pyongyang, January 20 (KCNA) --The Emergency Situation Council to Urgently Cope with Layoff, Part-time Jobs and Destruction of Trade Unions in south Korea held a press conference around Kwanghwamun, Seoul on Jan. 17 at which it denounced the puppet authorities for their suppression of the labor movement.
    At the press conference the organization branded the death of many workers as murders by the regime and capital.
    Enterprise owners, backed by power, are pressurizing those workers affiliated to trade unions, dismissing and suppressing them, the organization charged.
    Even the regime, conservative media and courts are joining in this suppressive campaign, it noted.
    Broad segments of people will turn out in large-scale actions in case the authorities turn down the demand for a halt to the suppression of the labor movement and do not take responsible steps, it warned. -0-

KCTU Stages Sit-in Strike

    Pyongyang, January 19 (KCNA) -- Leading members of 67 trade unions of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and other workers affiliated to them staged a protest in Seoul on Jan. 16 in demand of the settlement of the issues of labor including layoff, abolition of part-time jobs and a halt to the action to disband trade unions.
    Prior to the action, they held a press conference.
    Speakers there described the five years of Lee Myung Bak's office as a period of bitter tears for the workers as they were subject to lay-off, detention and crackdown, adding that they were forced to live like slaves under the present regime.
    A great number of workers were fired to roam the streets, and some of them staged a sit-in strike on the top of steel tower in demand of their vital rights and committed suicides in protest against the layoff, they said, and went on:
    However, the authorities remain a passive onlooker to these tragedies.
    They expressed the determination to stage the second and third strikes in case the authorities refuse to accept their demands.
    At the end of the press conference the workers staged the sit-in strike on the spot. -0-

Actions for Vital Rights Declared in S. Korea

Pyongyang, January 12 (KCNA) -- The Emergency Situation Council for Urgently Coping with Lay-off, Part-time Job and Destruction of Trade Unions in south Korea held a press conference in Seoul on Jan. 4 at which it called upon all to turn out in the actions for vital rights. The organization comprises workers, peasants, civic and public organizations and opposition parties.
    At the press conference speakers recalled that five workers died in south Korea in just a few days at the end of last year.
    But the authorities have not yet discussed any measure for guaranteeing vital rights, they charged.
    Many people are being killed due to the authorities who treat the people as slaves, not human beings, they deplored.
    Vital rights can be won only through actions against the authorities' unpopular rule, they said, adding:
    That was why martyr Jon Thae Il committed suicide more than 40 years ago in protest against the authorities' policy against workers, shouting "We are not machines" and "We want to live as human beings."
    They declared they would rise up in an all-out action if the authorities continue destroying trade unions, refusing to meet the demands for the abolition of lay-off and part-time jobs. -0-

Number of Suicide on Steady Increase in S. Korea

Number of Suicide on Steady Increase in S. Korea

Pyongyang, January 12 (KCNA) -- Suicide is becoming frequent in south Korea as the days go by, according to south Korean KBS on Jan. 9.
    Suicide is going beyond the tolerance limit in society, it noted.
    Recalling that south Korea tops the world's list of suicide rate, the broadcasting service said:
    Two persons commit suicide every hour.
    There is statistics that the first reason for death in south Korea is suicide by teenagers and persons in their twenties and their thirties and the second reason for death is suicide by persons in their forties and fifties.
    There is growing opinion that suicide cannot be viewed as a private issue and now is the time for the regime to seek a solution to the issue of suicide. -0