KCTU Goes on General Strike in S. Korea

  Pyongyang, December 19 (KCNA) -- The south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) went on a general strike in unison in 12 regions on Dec. 16 in protest against the fascist suppression and unpopular rule by the conservative ruling quarters.
    The general strike involved 150 000 persons including the unionists of 26 companies under the KCTU.
    About 5 000 unionists from Seoul, Inchon, Kyonggi Province and south Korean Kangwon Province rallied near the building of the "National Assembly" in Seoul before going into the general strike.
    The senior vice-chairman of the KCTU said at the rally it is time to stand up against the authorities with action and struggle now that they have reached the extremity in their moves for the retrogressive revision of the labor law.
    The representatives of the metal workers trade union, the public transport trade union, the healthcare service trade union and other industrial trade unions declared in their speeches that many industrial trade unions turned out in the general strike, contrary to the authorities' prediction that the KCTU would no longer wage a struggle with its chairman detained.
    A resolution was read out at the rally.
    The participants marched to the building of the economists association, denouncing the regime and plutocrats for seeking the retrogressive revision of the labor law.
    Timed to coincide with it, Pusan and Ulsan headquarters of the KCTU held similar rallies.
    The regional headquarters of the KCTU held demos and conducted information services following the rallies in Inchon, Kwangju, Taejon, Taegu, Jeju Island, North Chungchong, South Kyongsang and North Jolla provinces. -0-

Park Geun-hye, Step Down!

The action of south Korean people of every degree against the misgovernment of the south Korean authorities is getting fiercer.

The second all-out people’s action was held in Seoul on December 5 in the wake of the first all-out people's action had been held on November 14.

Presented there were 50 000 people across south Korea including workers, peasants, youth and students, citizens and religious men.

They wished quick recovery of Baek Nam-ki, a peasant who fell into a critical condition by the water cannon of the riot police in the last action and demanded harsh suppression of the police, check of labor reform and opposition to the “government-censored system of history textbook”.

Through his speech the Chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, who is in hiding at the Chogye Order from the police suppression, said that hundreds of people are being arrested, wanted and summoned to the court, the case in the military dictatorship is reproducing, the Nov. 14 action is the most righteous one, we would be suppressed in a certain time but the repressive dictatorial regime would not hinder our action.

At the time, an organization composed of the workers, peasants, the poor and civilians declared that it would launch the third all-out people's action on Dec. 19.

It demanded the resignation of the Park regime, suspension of labor reform, opposition to import of foreign made rice, creation of employment of the youth, discontinuance of withdrawal of street vendors, and railroading of “state censorship of history textbook” for middle and high schools.

What is conspicuous in the rally is that the participants put on masks instead of veil to protest against the bill on prohibition of using veil proposed by the ruling party and Park Geun-hye’s description about the participants as “IS”.

Twenty-four political figures including the opposition parties took part in the rally to march through the street.

After the rally, the participants marched down to the Hospital of Seoul National University where Baek is in the hospital.

Spokesman for C.C., GFTUK Assails South Korean Conservative Authorities' Fascist Crackdown upon People

 Pyongyang, December 2 (KCNA) -- The south Korean conservative ruling group is getting ever more frantic with fascist suppression of people. It is kicking up a whirlwind of wholesale seizure and search operations and arrest against not only the chairman of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and its other leading members but also its headquarters and trade union organizations under it under the absurd pretext that they spearheaded the all-people rallies held in Seoul recently. Meanwhile, courts are demanding heavy penalties for pro- democracy and reunification figures already arrested and detained.
    Even the south Korean chief executive cried out for "severely punishing the backstage forces according to the law and principle", likening the people of various circles who rose up in the action to terrorists of the "Islamic State". Chiming in with her outbursts, the gentries of the "Saenuri Party" are working hard to fake up "a law on combating terrorism", a new fascist law, and "a law on prohibiting the wearing of masks" in a bid to stamp out the progressive democratic forces.
    The south Korean conservative group, in particular, is issuing everyday orders to indiscriminately crack down on the people of various circles who declared their plan to hold the second all-people rallies against the authorities' fascist suppression by mobilizing the "field arrest group" just like the "Paekgoldan" dating back to the period of the military dictatorship, creating a horror-ridden atmosphere.
    A spokesman for the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea issued a statement on Wednesday in this regard.
    The waves of the horrible repressive campaign sweeping south Korea are an unpardonable fascist action against democracy and human rights and a blatant challenge to the public aspiring after justice, patriotism and genuine life, the statement noted, and continued:.
    The actions of the people from all walks of life being staged in south Korea everyday are an eruption of their grudge and resentment against the conservative group which trampled down the justice and truth and drove the people's living and rights into darkness and distress by pursuing sycophancy and treachery, escalating the confrontation with the fellow countrymen in the north, reviving "yusin" dictatorship and enforcing an unpopular rule.
    It is quite natural for the south Korean workers and other people to turn out in the dynamic struggle for defending their rights to existence and democracy, unable to tolerate the conservative ruling forces' treacherous rule.
    What is stunning people all the more is the fact that the fascist dictatorial forces including the Intelligence Service fabricated such confrontational and conspiratorial case as what they called "case of reverend" and are linking it with the DPRK in a bid to intensify the crackdown on the just struggle of the south Korean people of various circles.
    It is the stereotyped method of the south Korean conservative group to crack down on the pro-democracy and reunification forces by fabricating security cases and stir up the confrontation with the DPRK whenever it is driven into a serious ruling crisis.
    The south Korean conservative authorities' smear campaign against the DPRK and brutal fascist tyranny only reveal their true colors as traitors forsaken by the people and their miserable position in which they are floundering in the worst ruling crisis after being marginalized by the public.
    The south Korean conservative authorities should stop at once their fascist crackdown upon the people, drawing a lesson from the miserable end of the preceding dictators who faced a stern judgment by history for desperately enforcing the fascist rule and ratcheting up the confrontation with the DPRK. -0-

UK KFA Trade Union Section denounces fascist action against south Korean KCTU

On the 21st of November The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency hurled more than 370 policemen into operations for searching offices of the headquarters of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, progressive labor movement organization, and its affiliated bodies.
     The fascist policemen stormed at least ten offices of the KCTU headquarters and eight trade unions including the Metal Workers Trade Union and Builders Trade Union and conducted the search operation early in the morning under the pretext of seeking "evidence proving the spearheading of the violent demonstration"

We strongly denounce this suppression of a legitimate trade union that was defending the rights of workers .It is an unparalleled act of fascist violence against workers. The south Korean puppet regime is the enemy of all working people.

Article from British TUC on south Korea

 Good that the British TUC(not actually much good at defending the rights of UK workers ) is starting to wake up to the fact that south Korea is a very bad place for workers indeed . Of course the title should be "south Korea's broken promises' . The article does not mention the dependent and neo-colonial nature of sk but it is good that the British trade movement is ending its long silence on the repression of workers in south Korea.

                    It goes without saying that the south Korean puppet regime is an enemy of the working people and the trade union movement. All agreements like the south Korea -EU are aiming at increasing the dependency of south Korea on world monopoly capital and exploiting south Korean workers even more !

 http://strongerunions.org/2015/11/24/koreas-broken-promises-sound-alarm-over-oecd-membership-trade-agreements/

(south)Korea’s broken promises sound alarm over OECD membership & trade agreements

24 Nov 2015, By Owen Tudor

South Korea is often held up as the poster boy for international development. A poverty-stricken country after the war with the North, and ruled by a military dictatorship from 1961 to 1987, it is now a member of the G20 and the rich democracies club of the OECD. Its bilateral trade agreement with the European Union is hailed as one of the most demonstrably successful new-style trade agreements. It is also, of course, a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). And, frankly, Korea is unworthy of its role on the global stage, because of the way it treats trade unions.
Korea is well on the way to becoming a pariah state in terms of trade union rights. And the impunity with which its broken promises have been met explains why the British trade union movement has become a lot less willing to accept trade agreements and the expansion of international institutions.
On top of years of abuses, the Korean Government of President Park Geun-hye, daughter of the dictator who ran Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979, has recently tightened the screw on trade unions opposing the exploitation of workers. Last week, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady joined a global union protest against attacks on the Korean Public Services and Transport Workers Union (KPTU) on 6 November when  a high altitude protest by a union chapter led to a raid by 200 police not only on the local office, but the KPTU head office, confiscating union documents and computers. And now the offices of the TUC’s sister organisation in Korea – the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) – have been raided, its President in hiding in the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple in Seoul, for organising protests against the new trade union law.
The G20 has no rules to abide by, but the other transnational agreements and institutions mentioned above all require signatories to uphold the rights of workers to freedom of association, the right to strike and free collective bargaining. And Korea is getting worse and worse, riding roughshod over those principles. ILO membership requires countries to abide by and promote the eight core labour conventions, including C87 and C98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, even if that country has not formally ratified them. Before Korea joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2010, there was a “special monitoring process” on Korean workers’ rights from 1997 to 2006, and it had some positive effects including the legalisation of the KCTU. When Korea finally joined the OECD in 2010, it pledged to abide by the two key ILO workers’ rights conventions. And when the EU-Korea free trade agreement came into force in 2011, the same commitment was included in the agreement.
There is even a mechanism in that trade agreement that is supposed to address any breaches of the commitment – the EU-Korea Domestic Advisory Group, on which the ETUC is represented, along with European employers. The ILO does of course have supervisory mechanisms of its own – the Committee of Experts and the tripartite Committee on Freedom of Association, both of which have criticised Korea for abuses of worker’ rights. These bodies can only issue reports, but the European Commission could impose trade sanctions on Korea for egregious breaches: a stage which we must have reached, if only the European Commission and the member governments of the European Union were serious about workers’ fundamental rights. The EU-Korea DAG, currently being reconstituted, has protested in the past about Korea’s broken promises, but the European Commission has taken no concrete action on the complaint. The OECD, likewise, has done nothing about Korea’s broken promises.
This is why trade unions are no longer convinced that unenforceable labour chapters in trade agreements (like CETA or TTIP) will have any effect, and why trade unions are now insisting that countries seeking to join the OECD like Colombia, or even the EU, like Turkey, should demonstrate their compliance with core labour standards before being allowed to join, not just make idle promises. Attempts by the OECD to bring about worker rights improvements in Colombia as part of the Accession process are unconvincing – once a country is in the OECD and the monitoring stops, the countries can revert to the bad old ways.
KCTU President Han recently said:

“Today, the government and the police have trampled on the rights of the KCTU and workers in Korea. The anti-democratic, anti-worker policies of the Park Geun-hye government roused the indignation of the working people. We will broaden worker solidarity and fight to stop the regressive labour reform bill which will make it easier for employers to dismiss workers, cut wages and create more precarious employment. These reforms will not create the jobs the government promises but only ensure that all jobs are insecure and poorly-paid.”

S. Korean Police Searches KCTU Offices

Pyongyang, November 25 (KCNA) -- The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency hurled more than 370 policemen into operations for searching offices of the headquarters of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, progressive labor movement organization, and its affiliated bodies on November 21, according to the south Korean CBS and MBC.
    The fascist policemen stormed at least ten offices of the KCTU headquarters and eight trade unions including the Metal Workers Trade Union and Builders Trade Union and conducted the search operation early in the morning under the pretext of seeking "evidence proving the spearheading of the violent demonstration."
    The KCTU held a press conference outside Sodaemun Police Station in Seoul at which it declared that the police's search is like the guilty party filing the suit first.
    The assailant's suppression of the victim would spark strong uproar among the people, the KCTU warned. -0-

Seminar Held on 70th Anniversary of GFTUK

Pyongyang, November 23 (KCNA) -- A seminar was held by officials and members of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) on the occasion of its 70th birthday at the Central Hall of Workers on Monday.
    President Kim Il Sung formed the GFTUK on Nov. 30, Juche 34 (1945).
    Present at the seminar were officials concerned and members of the federation.
    They heard the papers dealing with the tasks and ways of adding glory to the leadership exploits Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il performed by forming and developing the GFTUK, and bringing about a fresh change in the work of the trade unions under the guidance of Marshal

Kim Jong Un.
    Ju Yong Gil, chairman of the Central Committee of the GFTUK, Kong Son Il, manager and editor-in-chief of the Working People's Organizations Publishing House, and other speakers said in the papers that the proud path covered by the GFTUK over 70 years represents a glorious history in which a shining example was set in building a revolutionary and militant mass political organization under the warm care of the peerlessly great men of Mt. Paektu.
    They noted the GFTUK, whose origin was provided in the flames of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, has creditably fulfilled its mission and duty before the times and revolution since its formation.
    The development of the GFTUK into a well-organized militant and revolutionary political organization constitutes a shining example to be specially recorded in the history of the building of mass political organizations of workers, they stressed. -0

Not let His Death Be In Vain

Chun Tae-il, a south Korean worker, burnt himself to death in protest against the anti-worker policy of the south Korean authorities on Nov. 13, 1970, forty-five years ago.

When November comes, a memorial service takes place before the grave of Chun Tae-il and the workers and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions hold a rally to denounce anti-worker policy of the south Korean authorities. However, his desire has not yet been realized, instead, the plight of workers become miserable.

While making the unions toothless, the south Korean authorities have harshly suppressed the workers’ struggle for existence. They are trying to enact a retrogressive labor law to bring profit to the conglomerate and put the people under the screw.

The Public Health and Medical Trade Union held a meeting in Seoul on Oct. 29 to declare an action against the authorities' anti-worker policy and for workers' rights to existence.

The government and business groups have made desperate bid to suppress the workers and they would respond the present regime’s anti-worker-policy with a general strike, it declared.

A resolution was read out there.

It said that the authorities' retrogressive revision of the structure of the labor mark is a great disaster as it worsens the situation of employment and payment, labor conditions and labor-management relations.

The "measure for normalizing public organizations" serves as means for havocking the public nature of healthcare and threatening the workers' rights to existence, it censured.

700 unionists of North Jeolla Province under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a rally on Oct. 30 to protest against worker reform and rice import of the south Korean authorities.

In a resolution the organizations branded the regime as the undemocratic regime against workers, peasants and common people as it is keen on making the majority of people poor and bringing profits to a handful of plutocrats. They demanded the regime step down at once as it turned south Korea into a dark society without hope and future.

Posted by juche007 at 22:21

KCTU Declares General Strike

Pyongyang, September 20 (KCNA) -- The south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a rally in Kyonggi Province on Sept. 17 at which it declared to launch a general strike against the authorities' moves for retrogressively revise labor market structure, according to Chamsesang, an internet paper of south Korea.
The organization condemned the "government" for pushing forward the retrogressive revision of the labor market structure under the plea of the "labor reform".
In order to check this, the workers across south Korea should launch a powerful general strike all at once, it held.
It noted that the KCTU will fight together with the people in protest against the authorities' move to kill workers. -0
3 people reached

S. Korean Authorities Slammed for Trying to Railroad "Bill on Human Rights in North" through "National Assembly"

    Pyongyang, September 19 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea in a statement Saturday denounced the south Korean authorities for trying to railroad the "bill on human rights in the north" through the "National Assembly."
    Such move is a heinous confrontation racket prompted by a sinister political purpose to bring down the workers' world of the DPRK, the spokesman said, and went on:
    There can be no "human rights issue" in the DPRK where everything serves the working people and which gives top priority to the wishes and interests of the people, regards them as absolute and realizes all their dreams and ideal on the highest level.
    The south Korean authorities should set right the human rights issue of south Korea, the veritable hell of the working people, before talking about "human rights" of someone.
    South Korean workers and other people are being driven into suicide, denied even elementary right to existence under the worst working condition, subject to unemployment and poverty, to say nothing of political freedom and right.
    It is nonsense and height of shamelessness for such human rights abusers to talk about "human rights" of someone.
    The south Korean authorities' moves to make the "bill on human rights in the north" a law is a revelation of their base and vicious intention to cover up their unpopular rule and poor human rights performance and suppress and block the mass struggle of the workers to protect their human rights.
    They should stop running riot, clearly understanding the spirit and stamina of the workers of the DPRK who never pardon those who dare slander and hurt the dignity and social system of the DPRK and try to destroy its cradle of creation and happiness. -0-

S. Korean Workers Demand Stop to Retrogressive Revision of Labor Market Structure

 Pyongyang, September 16 (KCNA) -- South Korean workers in the public field of south Korea including those of the public transport trade union, public health and medical service trade union and financial trade union held a rally in Seoul on Sept. 12 in protest against the authorities' moves for the retrogressive revision of the labor market structure.
    They accused the present regime of unilaterally pressing for the retrogressive revision aimed at easy lay-off, cut-down of wages and expansion of part-time jobs.
    They urged the need to reform big businesses before the reform of the labor market structure, saying the diversion of even some of fund possessed by the big businesses at present will create lots of jobs.
    If the big businesses and the "government" continue to move to retrogressively reform the labor market, workers will launch a general strike against them, they warned. -0-

Park Geun Hye Should Be Buried in Cemetery as Soon as Possible: Spokesman for DPRK Organization

  Pyongyang, August 19 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Joint National Organization of Working People issued a statement on Wednesday denouncing Park Geun Hye, a trouble-maker of the nation, for spitting out venoms in her "address marking August 15".
    She said in an address the north must follow the change of the international community, the statement noted, and went on:
    What she uttered is nothing but sophism of a person without elementary faculty of judging her fellow countrymen.
    What should be changed is none other than south Korea, a colony of the U.S. as it has to serve and follow the U.S. whether it likes or not, and Park Geun Hye as she is steeped in confrontation with fellow countrymen to the marrow of her bones.
    What all the Koreans want and expect is to wipe out sycophants and traitors such as Park from the members of the nation to the last one.
    Park also cried out for "purge". Purge is an essential means for the puppet forces to prop up their regime as they resort to repression and bestial suppression.
    Park grumbled that the north is "wrecking peace and going against south-north integration" while not responding to the "proposal for dialogue".
    If she had been sincere in her proposal for dialogue, she would have buckled down to creating an atmosphere for it.
    From the outset of the year, Park and her group, however, have escalated confrontation totally going against the resumption of dialogue.
    This time, she trumpeted about the inviolable nuclear issue of the DPRK once again. Not only all the Koreans but the world public regards the DPRK's nuclear deterrence as a treasured sword for protecting the peace of the country and security of the nation.
    Only Park is denying this universally accepted truth.
    She vociferated about the trite "north's deed" peppered with intrigues and fabrications. She unhesitatingly said that the north is "threatening security" through "cyber attack".
    She wagged her venomous tongue to let loose a spate of invectives such as "provocation and threat" and to say the north will "invite isolation and ruin by itself".
    It is Park who does not know even the conception of provocation and threat.
    Though belatedly, she should study the conceptions of provocation and threat and acknowledge herself to have been a chieftain committing provocation and threat on this land.
    She talked rubbish that "an opportunity is being given now", trumpeting about the July 4 joint statement.
    We would like to ask Park who dared talk about the July 4 joint statement.
    Does she sympathize with the principle of independence that calls for settling all the issues arising between the north and the south, large and small, from the stand of attaching importance and giving priority to the nation without dependence on foreign forces and free from their interference?
    Does she approve the principle of peaceful reunification that reflects the patriotic spirit of protecting the living place of fellow countrymen from war disaster and guaranteeing the co-prosperity of the nation?
    Has she willingness to accept the spirit of By Our Nation Itself and the principle of great national unity, which is the nation's mode of existence the key point of which is that division leads to ruin and reunification to powerful nation, and engine of improving north-south relations?
    If she stands before the solemn questions of all Koreans, she will get ablush as she has so far become all the more hysteric going against all of them.
    Resentful is that she talked crafty venoms as if she were interested in settling the issue of "separated families" which had already gone bankrupt. Lurking behind this is her ill purpose to calm down the people's mindset against her self-opinionated and shameless unpopular rule.
    This time, she talked nonsense that she would create "world ecology peace park" in the Demilitarized Zone to make it a "new axis for realizing cooperation".
    Nonsensical is her call for creating the "peace park" in the biggest hotspot in the world, where the worst confrontation persists and a war may break out any moment.
    She also made all kinds of spurious remarks.
    Explicitly speaking once again, she should set right the bad situation in south Korea before caring for and discussing the life of someone.
    No matter how glittering make-up she may put, it is too late to prevent the foul smell from reeking off from her body interwoven with sycophancy, treachery, confrontation and hostility.
    What she should do for the nation is to leave Chongwadae, the doghouse of the U.S., shut her unshapely mouth and get her crime-ridden body buried in the ceremony at an early date. -0-

79th Plenary Meeting of C.C., GFTUK Elects New Chairman

Pyongyang, August 17 (KCNA) -- The 79th Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) took place here Monday.
    The meeting discussed an organizational matter.
    Chairman Hyon Sang Ju was relieved from his post for his old age and Ju Yong Gil was elected chairman of the Central Committee of the GFTUK. -0-

Park Geun Hye Accused of Her Reckless Tongue-lashing

Pyongyang, July 25 (KCNA) -- The Joint National Organization of Working People of the DPRK released a statement on Saturday denouncing south Korean Park Geun Hye's ceaseless reckless tongue-lashing against the DPRK.
    The DPRK has seriously advised and warned Park Geun Hye of her reckless tongue-lashing, terming it a source of trouble for the nation, the statement said, adding:
    However, Park has not yet come to reason but is still keen on letting loose invectives against the DPRK.
    Reprimanding her once again for the wrong way of thinking she had when she was foul-tongued on July 20 as she is politically illiterate, ignorant of even common knowledge, the statement went on:
    Park talked rubbish that the "biggest hurdle" lying in the way of achieving peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is the "north's nukes."
    Park, however, should know what the real hurdle is.
    In a nutshell, the actual stumbling block is the U.S. and her group blindly following it, not the DPRK's nukes.
    She should bear in mind that peace on the Korean peninsula is harassed by the U.S. moves for aggression and war and stability there is disturbed by the confrontation and hostility being incited by her and her group of traitors moving according to her skirt swishing.
    Ridiculing her claim that the DPRK is "developing nuclear weapons in disregard of the living of its citizens", pursuant to the line of developing the two fronts simultaneously, the statement urged her to be well aware of the weighty significance of the DPRK's line, to begin with.
    The line is the wisest choice to foil the U.S. and its followers' desperate moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and promote wellbeing of the people and accelerate the building of a thriving nation, it noted, and went on:
    The DPRK's nukes protect its people's destiny from the constant moves of the U.S. and its stooges for aggression and nuclear war and huge funds for building of conventional force go to the improvement of the people's living standard. This is the essence of the above-said line.
    The people of the DPRK enjoy all social benefits given by the state -- free education, free healthcare and provision of houses.
    She is bound to feel ashamed as she would get to know that the national incomes advertised by her regime and the U.S. is no more than petty ones when they are compared with the social benefits in the DPRK.
    Park was so impudent as to say that her regime would "actively support the economic development" in the DPRK by "cooperating with the international community" if it makes a strategic decision to "dismantle its nukes."
    The people of the DPRK have dynamically advanced along the road of prosperity by their own efforts.
    Park, seized with sycophancy toward the U.S., had better concern herself about the crippled economy of south Korea that depends on the U.S.
    She claimed the "unification" pursued by her is "the ultimate solution" in an effort to mislead the public opinion by creating impression that such complicated issues as "nukes, human rights and provocation" were spawned by the DPRK. She had better drop such a pipe dream.
    The issues that should be settled are neither the issue of the DPRK's nukes, a treasured sword common to the nation, nor the "human rights issue" which can never exist in its popular masses-centred society.
    What should be halted urgently is the U.S. nuclear blackmail and threat against the DPRK, human rights abuses in south Korea, a human rights tundra where fascist dictatorship is rampant, and all the political and military provocations being perpetrated every day by the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet military warmongers against the DPRK.
    Park once again self-exposed through her reckless remarks that she is no more than a hideous confrontation maniac rare to be found in the world. Park is doomed to ruin like her father who met a miserable death as he betrayed the nation. -0-

Against the Labour Policy

On July 4, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions waged anti-government struggle in protest against the south Korean authorities’ policy against the workers. About 35 000 manufacturing, public and financial workers of the trade unions participated. Nearly 20 000 manufacturing workers of Joint Struggle Headquarters held a rally at the plaza of the Seoul Station and declared joint general strike. The retrogressive revision of wage system and employment condition by the south Korean “government” is for the expansion of part-time job and mass dismissal, they noted in the joint statement. They insisted that the “government” should accept their demands such as reduction of working hours and wage increase and also stop the revision of labor market structure. They declared that there would be general strike of manufacturing workers against the revision of labor market structure on July 22 and simultaneous rallies of all branches throughout south Korea. At the end of the rally they marched, shouting slogans “Punish Park Dictatorship!”, “Check the Revision of Labor Market Structure!”                                       Meanwhile, 15 000 public and financial workers of Joint Struggle Headquarters held a rally in Seoul in demand of stopping the revision of labor market structure and privatization of the public. Holding slogans written “General Strike! Punish Park Geun-hye!”, “Achieve Basic Labor Right”, they condemned the Park regime who has made desperate bid to realize anti-workers policy. They insisted that the south Korean authorities are forcing only dismissal and intensive work without wage increase and are depriving the trade unions of rights to negotiate.                                   In essence, the “Normalization of Public Institution” and “Reforms in the Financial System” advertised by the “government” are aimed at turning the public institutions into moneymaking means, they denounced. Asserting that the authorities, who have spent tremendous money on the “Four Major Rivers Restoration Project”, are scheming to place the responsibility of it on the public workers, they appealed to the workers to launch the struggle against the anti-workers policy such as privatization of the public. At the end of the rally, the workers marched to Cheonggye Square. (4)

Trade Union Members Swear Allegiance

                                                       

Taean, July 2 (KCNA) -- There took place an oath-taking of workers and trade union members before the statue of President Kim Il Sung in Taean District, Nampho City on Thursday in commemoration of the 21st anniversary of his demise.
    Present there were Ri Il Hwan, department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, officials of the trade union, workers and other trade union members.
    The participants laid a floral basket and bouquets before the statue of the President and paid tribute to him.
    A letter of pledge was read out at the meeting.
    It called for holding the President in high esteem as the sun of Juche, eternal leader of the revolution and glorifying his revolutionary life and exploits down through generations. -0-

Deplorable State of S. Korean Workers Disclosed

  Pyongyang, June 24 (KCNA) -- The National Reunification Institute issued a white paper Wednesday disclosing the miserable state of south Korean workers attributable to the puppet forces' unpopular rule.
    The number of the unemployed has shown an exponential increase in recent years, becoming a serious social problem, the white paper said, and went on:
    The number was over 3.5 million in 2013 which rose to at least 4.5 million in 2014 and more than 500 000 of them gave up employment. And the number of underemployed increased to 10 million from 8 million in the period.
    What is all the more serious is the problem of jobless young people.
    Earlier this year the rate of young people without job was 21.8 percent, an increase from the time of massive unemployment that was caused by group bankruptcy after 1997 currency run. The rate was estimated to be higher than the average unemployment rate among the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and regions.
    University graduates without jobs showed a record high of 2.75 million.
    The severity of youth unemployment in south Korea can be seen in the fact that youth are giving up love, marriage and childbirth plus housing and getting relations with people.
    This notwithstanding, the present chief executive is enticing young people into going abroad, saying they can get jobs only when they go abroad.
    But young south Koreans only meet national humiliation and contempt and miserable death.
    The proportion of part-time workers under less than a year contract has reached 37.1 %, the highest among major capitalist countries and in the region.
    What is all the more deplorable is the pervasive "status system" which says children with part-time worker parents have to be part-timers.
    The white paper revealed the fact that south Korean workers are doing labor under extremely poor working conditions.
    According to data underreported by the south Korean relevant authorities, the number of victims of industrial disaster was over 90 900 or more than 240 on a daily average across south Korea last year and among them the number of those who suffered from accidents were more than 83 200 and victims of occupational disease by harmful materials were over 7 600.
    The mortality rate due to industrial disaster topped the world list being 2 or 4 times higher than that in major capitalist countries.
    CNN in an article introducing south Korea in August last year said weekly work hours of workers in south Korea is 12 hours longer than an average work hours of people in other parts of the world, adding daily sleeping hours of south Korean workers are less than six hours.
    Yet, they fail to get even the minimum wages for doing hard work.
    In south Korea where the jungle law prevails, employment crime whereby the rights of workers are mercilessly violated is ubiquitous.
    What is all the more serious is that teenagers, the disabled and women are taken as "labor force easy to be hired with meager wage".
    Child labor is internationally banned but teenagers are subject to harsh forced labor in south Korea today.
    74.2 percent of teenagers working in the service fields in Seoul are doing slave labor without contract. Exploitation of the disabled is making people tremble with horror as it is beyond human imagination.
    According to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the rate of women taking part in economic activities and their employment rate, ages 25 to 54, are 62.8 percent and 61.2 percent each, the lowest among the member countries and in the region.
    What is all the more problematic is the serious sexual violence committed against women workers at work sites.
    In March this year the British magazine Economist ridiculed at the worst discrimination against south Korean women in the world.
    A broad segment of the toiling masses of south Korea are protesting against the present authorities' unpopular labor policy that benefits the big businesses.
    More than 20 workers committed suicide unable to stand suppression of trade unions and lay-off after the present regime took office.
    Workers are staging sit-ins, risking their lives.
    Getting all the more fierce is protest of workers against the unpopular rule by the authorities keen on intensifying suppression.
    All facts go to clearly prove that south Korea is the world's worst tundra of human rights and a dark society where democracy and human rights can not be found.
    However, the present south Korean ruling quarters slander the most advantageous labor system in the DPRK where genuine popular policies are enforced and speak ill of those who are working abroad with an intention to be helpful to the system. This is a ridiculous provocative act.
    The puppet forces should clearly understand that their anti-DPRK "human rights" racket in collusion with outsiders will precipitate their destruction. -0-

S. Korean Regime's Anti-DPRK "Human Rights" Racket Assailed

  Pyongyang, June 11 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea on Thursday made public a statement accusing the south Korean puppet group of kicking up a frantic anti-DPRK racket.
    The south Korean puppet authorities let subsidized institutes and anti-DPRK "human rights" bodies made up of riff-raffs spout a litany of such invectives as painting those workers sent by the DPRK to different countries for external economic cooperation as "ones engaged in slave labor" and "subject to exploitation."
    They, at the same time, brought the "human rights" issue of workers of the DPRK overseas for discussion at the meeting with the U.S. and Japanese delegates to the six-party talks held in Seoul late in May though it had nothing to do with the nuclear issue and agreed to use the matter as a "new subject for pressing the north." They are making desperate efforts to achieve their sinister aim by instigating the U.S. and other hostile forces and international bodies.
    The statement branded the racket as an unpardonable challenge to defame the dignity and image of the DPRK and intolerable insult to the overseas workers devoting themselves to the building of a thriving nation.
    It is the height of shamelessness for Park Geun Hye, descendant of the notorious "yusin" dictator, and her group to vociferate about the human rights of the overseas workers of the DPRK, the statement noted, and went on:
    Their anti-DPRK "human rights" racket is nothing but the desperate efforts of those who are much upset by the DPRK making a dynamic advance, powerfully demonstrating its might before the whole world as a matchless military power and nuclear power for self-defence.
    All the workers of the DPRK will surely smash the sinister anti-DPRK "human rights" racket of the south Korean puppet group, hordes of rare traitors. -0

The Park regime in a predicament

The Park Geun-hye regime, that took power through fraudulent election and has engrossed in fascist dictatorship and treachery, finds itself in a tight corner. 

The south Korean prime minister, a main target of Song Wan-jeong case, resigned his post and current governor of south Gyeongsang Province, who squeezed a hundred million money from Song, is under intensive investigation of the south Korean Prosecution Service.  

The Song case excited illegal fund of the “presidential election” held in 2012.

From October to November in 2012 when the 18th “presidential election” entered the critical stage, the Gyeongnam Business Group headed by Song handed over hundreds of million cash to the election measure committee of the present chief executive. 

In particular, the fact that the note left by Song were listed with names of some persons of the then presidential measure committee presume a colossal amount of money was spent for the “presidential election.”

In this regard, the south Korean mass media asserted the Prosecution Service’s investigation should focus on illegal fun of the “presidential election” of the present chief executive.

As the 18^th “presidential election” was branded as a fraudulent election, if the fund of the “presidential election” is made public by the Song’s case, the result would lead to a complete destruction of the present regime. 

The ruling Saenuri Party set up illegal offices for the “presidential election” in 2012 at 12 officetel to launch illegal SNS activities and make fund, a south Korean Sisa Journal exposed on May 10. 

In this connection, the opposition parties including the Alliance for New Politics and Democracy and various circles urged the Blue House and the ruling Saenuri Party to accept the special investigation, denouncing it is unimaginable large-scale illegal act.

Now the south Korean public sentiment commented the Song Wan-jeong case would be the worst crisis insoluble for the Park regime.

The south Korean people are crying for the resignation of the present conservative ruling quarters.

S. Korean Workers Commit Suicides

    Pyongyang, May 19 (KCNA) -- Nowadays workers, unable to bear sufferings due to crackdown on trade unions, discrimination against part-timers and layoff, are committing suicides one after another in south Korea.
    The chief of a branch of the Kwangju-South Jolla Provincial Chapter of the Metal Workers Trade Union hung himself to death on a hillock near his house on May 10.
    In his note he asked his co-workers to fight to the bitter end to have the discharged workers reinstated and part-time jobs turned into full-time ones and put an end to the firing of workers.
    The former chief of a branch of the Kyonggi Provincial Chapter of the Metal Workers Trade Union also hung himself to death in a mountain on May 11.
    Earlier a worker of a Pusan joint brewage company committed suicide in his house on May 7. -0

Spokesman for GFTUK Central Committee Denounces S. Korean Puppet Group's Human Rights Abuses

 Pyongyang, May 8 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea Friday issued a statement denouncing the south Korean puppet group for its brutal crackdown upon workers' large-scale rallies and demonstrations.
    The statement went on:
    The puppet group of gangsters cruelly beat workers and arrested them, far from congratulating them on May Day, stunning the world people.
    The GFTUK Central Committee brands its fascist crackdown as heinous human rights abuses and unpardonable challenge to justice and democracy and vehemently denounces them on behalf of all workers in the northern half of Korea.
    The puppet regime has turned south Korea into a veritable hell and a tundra of human rights. It is, therefore, the height of impudence for it to pull up the DPRK over its "human rights issue."
    The recent May Day rallies were a clear manifestation of the pent-up grudge and resentment of the people from all walks of life including workers at the authorities' unbearable unpopular rule.
    With neither high-handed actions nor suppression can the south Korean regime arrest the just struggles of the workers to have their vital rights guaranteed.
    If the regime continues resorting to fascist crackdown upon the just actions of people from all walks of life, refusing to face up to the mind-set of the angry public and the trend of the times, it will surely meet its doom.
    All workers in the northern half of Korea will positively support the workers and other people of south Korea in their just actions for democratic freedom and the right to existence against the unpopular policies and fascist rule of the regime. -0-

Action for Genuine Life

Action for Genuine Life

Large-scale anti-"government" actions of labor circle were staged in south Korea on May Day, marking the 125^th anniversary.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a rally on May 1 at Seoul Square putting up slogan "End to Park Geun-hye".

It was attended by at least 50 000 workers under the confederation and more than 200 bereaved family members of the ferry Sewol disaster.

Speakers at the meeting said that the workers get the minimum standard cost of living and suffer all kinds of grinding toil in poor working condition.

Han Sang-gyun, chairman of the confederation, declared it would fight to put an end to the Park corrupt regime, not yielding to any threat.

He stressed they would continue the general strike in May and June.

At the end of the rally the participants staged demonstrations.

The south Korean riot police barricaded the road with their vehicles, sprayed tear gas and water on the demonstrators and took many people to the police station.

Meanwhile, there took place a rally in Youido, Seoul denouncing the puppet authorities for retrogressively revising the structure of labor market with at least 120 000 workers under the Federation of Trade Unions attending.

Speakers deplored that the reality of south Korea is becoming more disastrous and miserable owing to unemployment and financial crisis during two-year-long Park regime’s rule and there is neither hope nor future.

They said that they would stop the authorities’ move to retrogressively revise the structure of labor market through the June general strike.

That day members of the Government Employees Union staged a strike in Seoul in protest against the Park group's moves to retrogressively revise pension for government employees.

KCTU's General Strike Supported by S. Koreans

    Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- At least 1 000 civic and public organizations of south Korea held a press conference in Seoul on April 21 in support of the April 24 general strike of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
    The secretary general of the Citizens Solidarity for Democratic Society said that the guarantee of basic labor right, increase of public pension, drastic increase of the minimum wage, probe into truth about the ferry Sewol disaster and abolition of the "regime's enforcement ordinance" demanded by the KCTU are all just calls.
    The director of the Unification Study Center branded the Park Geun Hye regime as "the regime infected with diseases" making the society rotten, adding the KCTU's general strike is one to topple the rotten Park regime.
    The permanent co-representative of the Strength of the People said that the regime defined the strike as "illegal one" and is planning wholesale suppression of it. Lurking behind this is an attempt to conceal the truth about the power-backed fraudulent election and the scandal disclosed by the Song Wan Jong case, he added.
    The chairman of the Federation of Distribution Traders said that majority of self-supporting businessmen are those who suffered losses due to capital and the regime, positively supporting the strike of the KCTU.
    The chairman of the Federation of Peasants Associations and the co-representative of the Solidarity for Liberation of the Poor accused the regime of regarding the workers as slaves, declaring peasants and the poor would join the KCTU in its general strike.
    The chairman of the South Headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea's Reunification called upon the KCTU to take the lead in the strike and peasants, urban poor, common people and all other people to get united to drive the Park regime into a cesspool.
    The chairman of the KCTU called for positive actions to save workers and other common people. -0-

S. Korean Puppet Forces Slammed for Their Ruthless Human Rights Abuses

S. Korean Puppet Forces Slammed for Their Ruthless Human Rights Abuses

Pyongyang, April 28 (KCNA) -- The DPRK Measure Council for Human Rights in South Korea on April 18 issued a white paper lashing out at the south Korean puppet conservative group for driving the people's living into dire destitution and ruthlessly violating their elementary right to live.
    The white paper laid bare the miserable life of the south Korean people.
    Last year the number of the unemployed was 2.875 million while that of semi-unemployed such as temporary and daily workers receiving low wages who are hired for a day or for several months reached 6.077 million, an all-time high.
    According to data released by the Labor Society Institute of south Korea, there were 18.77 million wage workers as of August last year and 2.27 million of them or 12.1 percent did not receive even the lowest wage. This is an increase of 570 000 workers over that in the same period of 2010.
    When the wage of men's regular workers is considered to be 100 percent, the wage of women's regular workers is 67 percent, that of men's part-time workers 54 percent and that of women's part-time workers 36 percent.
    The vital rights of peasants are being seriously threatened due to the puppet conservative group's sycophancy and treachery and unpopular moves to ruin agriculture.
    The farm land drastically decreased to 1.71 million hectares in 2013 from 2.3 million hectares early in the 1970s, and the population in the countryside dropped to 2.84 million from 14 million in the same period. As a result, the south Korean agriculture is at the crossroads of survival and ruin.
    Foreign surplus agricultural produce is flooding the south Korean market. Consequently, the grain production dwindled 60 percent and the self-sufficiency rate in food sharply dropped 33 percent in the same period. So, one of two inhabitants in south Korea is bound to starve to death unless south Korean depends on grain import from foreign countries.
    The annual average income of the rural households at present is no more than 60 percent of the income of urban households and 40 percent of the former is barely making their ends meet with the lowest living cost.
    As the house rent is jumping due to the puppet group's policy of speculation of real estate, the number of the poorest without proper shelter is on the increase.
    According to the 2013-2014 survey of housing situation, children living at the underground, dugouts, plastic sheet houses and rooftop houses numbered 1.29 million, young people 1.39 million and old persons aged 65 and above 103 000.
    670 000 persons are living underground in Seoul alone.
    The puppet group's policy of plunder through taxes is seriously threatening the living of the inhabitants.
    According to data released by the "Hanguk Bank", the average debt each resident of south Korea has to pay went beyond 20 000 U.S. dollars.
    Due to the unpopular rule of the south Korean regime and the economic crisis and the deteriorated people's living, all sorts of big accidents such as the ferry Sewol disaster have happened in an unbroken chain.
    The white paper said that south Korea witnesses the worsening social vices caused by the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
    The rich who account for 10 percent of the population hold 48.05 percent of the total income while the low income people who account for 40 percent of the population hold just 2 percent of the total income.
    The gap between the rich and the poor can be illustrated by the practice "Kapjil," a serious social evil in south Korea these days.
    According to the survey conducted in Jan. this year, 95 percent of the respondents said that such practice is more seriously rampant in south Korea than in any other countries.
    And 58 per cent of the respondents said that politicians, high-ranking officials and tycoons are the very groups which commit such practices in the worst way.
    The middle class is becoming poor and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening and common people are living in despair because of such burdens as taxes, house rent and school fees.
    The white paper also dealt with the fact that the south Korean puppet conservative regime is suppressing south Korean people from all walks of life such as workers and peasants in their actions against the unpopular rule and for the protection of their right to live.
    In July 2013 police brutally suppressed the demonstrators calling for making the part-timers of Hyundai Motors full-timers by firing fire extinguishers and water cannons at them and brandishing shields and iron sticks.
    The south Korean puppet group of conservatives accused more than 190 members of the railway trade union of breach of law and issued warrants of arrest for them after branding the general strike of south Korean railway workers demanding the withdrawal of the plan for the de-nationalization of railways and a halt to the crackdown upon trade unions as an illegal one. Not content with this, the puppet group fired as many as 8 500 workers and brutally cracked down on them by setting in motion fascist repressive machines such as the Ministry of Justice 죵 the Police Agency.
    The puppet group indiscriminately fired water guns at the peasants in their actions against the humiliating moves for flinging the rice market open in June 2014, brutally suppressing the demonstrations.
    The bestial actions of the fascist murderers against the south Korean people demanding the vital rights and democratic rights found a more vivid manifestation in the suppression of actions for peace rally on August 15, 2013 and the actions of peace-loving citizens demanding the probe into truth about the ferry Sewol disaster and punishment of those responsible for it in May 2014.
    The conservative group is working with bloodshot eyes to crack down on the legitimate progressive political parties and organizations aspiring after justice, truth, democracy and reunification.
    In December last year, it perpetrated without hesitation a politically-motivated terrorist act of forcibly disbanding the Unified Progressive Party, a legitimate political party, which had spoken for the oppressed toiling masses including workers and peasants for more than ten years, after branding it as a "political party following the north".
    The miserable plight of the south Korean people will never change as long as the group of traitors are allowed to stay in power. -0

S. Korean Government Employees Declare General Strike

Pyongyang, April 12 (KCNA) -- South Korean government employees' actions are mounting higher to denounce the puppet authorities' moves to retrogressively reform the pension for government employees.
The Government Employees' Union on April 7 declared they would launch a general strike against the retrogressive reform of the pension for government employees.
The union planned to set up voting stations in its branches on April 6 and conduct voting in order to stage a general strike against the misrule of the puppet authorities. But the puppet ruling forces blocked voting stations by hurling police.
The General Federation of Trade Unions of Government Employees on April 8 declared that if the authorities retrogressively revise the pension for government employees, it would stage a general strike. -0

S. Korean Puppet Forces Urged to Stop Retrogressive Revision of Pension System for Government Employees

Pyongyang, April 4 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Government Employees and Service Personnel of the DPRK in a statement on Saturday extended full support to the members of the south Korean Government Employees' Union and people from all walks of life in their just actions against the authorities' retrogressive revision of the pension system for government employees.
    The south Korean puppet forces are working hard to retrogressively revise the pension system for government employees while ruthlessly encroaching upon the vital rights of millions of the government employees and their families.
    In protest against this, more than 50 trade unions of government employees and teachers in south Korea including the Government Employees' Union and the Teachers Union formed the joint action headquarters for increasing public pension and are staging various actions such as rallies, street marches and group hair-cutting against the puppet forces' retrogressive revision of the pension system for government employees.
    The statement said:
    The above-said moves are another inevitable product of the unpopular rule and predatory policy of the puppet conservative group to bleed the toiling masses white in a bid to squander funds for submitting to outsiders and escalating the confrontation with the fellow countrymen in the north and meeting the interests of monopoly plutocrats and bureaucrats.
    It is quite impossible to escape economic catastrophe and save the people's living from destitution as long as the descendants of "yusin" going against the people's mindset are allowed to stay in power.
    It is the way for the government employees and people of south Korea for living and protecting the democratic right and viral rights to sternly judge the corrupt conservative group. -0-

Just Struggle of S. Korean Workers Is Sure to Win: Spokesman for C.C., GFTUK

 Pyongyang, April 3 (KCNA) -- Massive actions of people from all walks life in south Korea are being staged in south Korea in protest against the unpopular rule of the fascist authorities.
    The south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which is taking the lead in the struggle for social democracy and genuine life of the workers, in a press conference on Feb. 25 formally declared it would wage a campaign to force the regime to step down through the April general strike and on Mar. 11 trade unions under the KCTU and the Federation of Trade Unions of south Korea held an inaugural ceremony of joint action of the manufacturing field at which they vowed to launch a general strike in case the authorities make "restructuring of labor market".
    Different regional headquarters of the KCTU held roving round-table talks and intensive rallies at which they expressed their will to check and frustrate the puppet conservative regime's moves to retrogressively revise the "labor law".
    Mounting high are massive actions across south Korea such as rallies and demonstrations by more than 80 000 people of all social standings including government employees in Seoul on March 28 in protest against the regime's retrogressive revision of pension for government employees.
    A spokesman for the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) in a statement issued on Friday said this is an eruption of the pent-up grievance and resentment at the puppet conservative group which is ruthlessly trampling down the democratic right and vital rights of the south Koreans.
    The C.C., GFTUK extends full support and firm solidarity to the massive actions of people from all walks of life in south Korea including workers who have resolutely risen up to oppose the puppet group's sycophancy and acts of treachery and unpopular rule and defend their independent demand and vital rights, the statement said, and went on:
    Since the emergence of the present regime, the U.S. colonial subjugation of south Korea has deepened, the living conditions of the people have worsened and south Korea has turned into the worst hell and tundra of human rights.
    Thrown into the mire of destitution, workers are committing suicides and some of them have been on sit-in strike for several months on a high chimney in winter. Streets are flooded with huge crowds of jobless people.
    However, the puppet group is brutally suppressing their actions by labeling them "illegal ones," lending a deaf ear to their strong demands.
    The south Korean workers should turn out as one in the all-people resistance at these crossroads of life and death and thus mete out a stern judgment to the puppet conservative regime.
    The entire working class in the northern half of Korea will voice positive support to the just actions of the workers and people from all walks of life in south Korea for democracy and the right to existence in the future, too, and express firm conviction that their just struggle is sure to triumph. -0-

British Trades Unions should oppose "The Interview "

One idea suggested by friends from Staffordshire KFA is that the trade unions in the cinema and film industry should prevent "The Interview " being shown in UK by taking industrial action

Korean Workers Will Discharge Their Duty in Movement for National Reunification

Korean Workers Will Discharge Their Duty in Movement for National Reunification
Pyongyang, January 8 (KCNA) -- All the workers of the DPRK will discharge their responsibility and duty to take the lead in the nationwide movement to open up a broad avenue to independent reunification in hearty response to the patriotic call of Marshal Kim Jong Un, cherishing the national pride and self-esteem of holding up him in the van of the cause of national reunification.
The chairman of the C.C., the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) said this in a statement on Thursday.
Kim Jong Un in his New Year address called upon all Koreans to turn out as one in the nationwide movement for national reunification, holding high the slogan "Let the whole nation join efforts to open up a broad avenue to independent reunification in this year of the 70th anniversary of national liberation!", the statement said, and went on:
The C.C., the GFTUK warmly supports the proposal for national reunification set forth in the New Year address of Kim Jong Un as immortal programmes for reunification as it opened a bright prospect for the nationwide struggle to mend inter-Korean relations and bring earlier national reunification.
It is the unanimous will of all workers of the DPRK to become the standard-bearers opening up a broad avenue to independent reunification and locomotives of reunification this year of the 70th anniversary of national liberation with the same spirit and vigor as was displayed by the workers in the north and the south for dynamic struggle for reunification in the past.
As indicated by the Marshal in his New Year address, only when the entire nation join efforts, can they open up a broad avenue to independent reunification.
The workers of the DPRK who promoted the development of history and pioneered it by dint of unity will strengthen solidarity and alliance with the workers in the south and share one purpose and joins efforts with them in the struggle for national reunification this year.