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

Let Us Build Workers’ World

http://ndfsk.dyndns.org/

Let Us Build Workers’ World

On November 11, there took place in Seoul under the sponsorship of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions an anti-regime struggle on the occasion of the 42^nd death anniversary of Jon Tae-il who suicided by fire in protest against the misrule of the Park Chung –hee military fascist dictatorship.

Participating there were some 30,000 workers under the above-said confederation, members and assemblymen of opposition parties, various figures and organizations.

Holding placards reading “Repeal lay-offs, stop the destruction of trade unions and guarantee workers’ right to participate in politics”, the workers demonstrated their will to fight to the last against the anti-people politics of the regime chanting such slogans as “Jon Tae-il is still alive here!” and “Repeal the irregular jobs!”.

Then the participants held a rally at the plaza of Seoul Railway Station.

Speakers there deplored the reality saying that though many years have lapsed since Jon suicided by fire in protest against the anti-people labor policy, there is no improvement in the workers’ status.

Workers are waging the fierce struggles in various parts of south Korea for their right to existence demanding the restoration of the dismissed and the repeal of irregular jobs, they noted and stressed that all these struggles cannot triumph unless Lee Myung-bak and the “Saenuri Party” are ousted.

They asserted that now is high time that all people should turn out in the struggle to make a radical change of the society by concerted efforts.

Then a resolution was read out there to stress that they would build through struggles a society where basic labor rights are guaranteed and the workers become its masters.

It also demanded the authorities stop the moves to destroy trade unions, repeal the irregular jobs and lay-offs and guarantee political rights of the workers.

That day, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions clarified that it would continue the anti-regime struggle including holding a candlelit rally for the guarantee of the workers’ franchise at Seoul Plaza on November 17 and a large-scale people's rally on December 8.

Women in South Korea Envy the North Korean Women - Voice of Korea

S. Korean Workers′ Just Struggle Supported

S. Korean Workers′ Just Struggle Supported

Pyongyang, November 16 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) Thursday made public the following statement:
Recently workers of south Korea are staging fierce mass actions against the unpopular rule of the conservative regime.
The south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a meeting with tens of thousands of workers attending in Seoul on November 11 to declare that it would stage actions for employment, settlement of part-time job and guarantee of basic labor rights and have their demands met by punishing the present regime in the "presidential" election.
They ardently called for turning the upcoming "presidential" election into a theatre of courageous actions for rights of workers to existence and great social reforms and a battle to drive out the "yusin" dictatorship. They expressed their firm will to wage dynamic large-scale anti-regime actions with the election at hand.
On November 9, part-time workers of over 3 440 schools across south Korea staged a general strike in 16 areas. They vowed to escalate the struggle amid popular support and solidarity unless their demands are met.
The strong mass actions of workers now mounting in different parts of south Korea are an eruption of the pent-up grudge and anger at the unpopular rule and labor policy of the conservative group including traitor Lee Myung Bak and a demonstration of the will to make a clean sweep of the group of traitors and bring about new independent and democratic politics and society where genuine life is guaranteed.
During the past five years of the Lee Myung Bak regime the economy and people's living in south Korea went bankrupt and workers and other people there are subject to unbearable misfortunes and sufferings.
Even according to information made public by the puppet regime, during Lee's office job chances further dwindled as compared with those in the period of the former regime and the number of the unemployed and semi-unemployed reached an all time high in south Korea's history.
The number of the poor who are unable to earn even the lowest living cost increased more than 300 000 every year, reaching at least 9 million at present. The income gap between the rich and the poor is about 18 times that of 2007.
Half of all the families in south Korea do not have their own houses. They live either in rented rooms or in dugouts, underground rooms and caves.
However, the ruling conservatives shun such sufferings of the people and perpetrate scandals for accumulation of wealth and personal glory and are keen to gratify their despicable political ambitions. They even unhesitatingly commit such horrible atrocities as turning down the demands of workers and other people for their rights to existence and cruelly killing them as evidenced by their killing of evacuees of Ryongsan and mass lay-off at Ssangyong Motorcar Co.
That is why south Korean people from all walks of life describe the five years of Lee Myung Bak's office as "five years of misrule" and "era of darkness" as it drove the economy and people's living to collapse and distress and they are ready to punish the group of traitors.
Now the "Saenuri Party" sharing the same lot with Lee Myung Bak more dead than alive, forsaken by the people, is desperately working to mislead the people's attention in a bid to prolong its remaining days and stay in power, ridiculously talking about "people's living", "economic democracy" and "revamp" with the "presidential" election at hand.
But, no one will be taken in its rhetoric.
It is the firm resolution and will of the south Korean people including workers to punish the Lee group of evil and the "Saenuri Party" in the election and overthrow the unjust society where 99 percent of people must serve just one percent of the population.
All the workers of south Korea should bear mind that they can never escape misfortune and disaster as long as such wicked gang of traitors as the Lee group and the "Saenuri Party" are allowed to go reckless. They should become standard-bearers and vanguard in the actions against Lee Myung Bak and the "Saenuri Party" and severely punish the conservative group.
The GFTUK Central Committee sends full support and solidarity to the south Korean workers in their just and brave actions to win back independent rights of human beings and build a genuine new society. -0-

PICKET OF SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSYPICKET OF SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY THURSDAY 1ST OF NOVEMBER 2012 PICKET OF SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY THURSDAY 1ST OF NOVEMBER 2012 FREE MR RO SU HUI ! TIME 4-30PM PLACE SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY 60 BUCKINGHAM GATE LONDON SW1 NEAREST TUBE VICTORIA Mr Ro was arrested and detained by the south Korean fascist puppets under the so-called "National Security Law" of south Korea. The NSL punishes south Korean people for visiting north Korea or sympathising with it in anyway. The NSL is fascist and a throwback to a by-gone era. The NSL is very much reminiscent of Nazi Germany , 1950s McCarthyite America and Apartheid south Africa. The NSL is also a block to inter-Korean relations, reconciliation and and reunification. Mr Ro has committed no crime whatsoever. He simply visited one part of his own country which has been artificially divided by outside forces (chiefly US imperialism). We ask why is the south Korean regime so afraid of its people visiting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ?. Our demands are simple and straightforward - the unconditional release of Mr Ro Su Hui and the dropping of any charges against him.

PICKET OF SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY THURSDAY 1ST OF NOVEMBER 2012

PICKET OF SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY THURSDAY 1ST OF NOVEMBER 2012
FREE MR RO SU HUI !
TIME 4-30PM
PLACE SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY 60 BUCKINGHAM GATE LONDON SW1
NEAREST TUBE VICTORIA

                                          Mr Ro was arrested and detained by the south Korean fascist puppets under the so-called "National Security Law" of south Korea. The NSL punishes south Korean people for visiting north Korea or sympathising with it in anyway. The NSL is  fascist and a throwback to a by-gone era. The NSL is very much reminiscent of Nazi Germany , 1950s McCarthyite America and Apartheid south Africa. The NSL is also  a block to inter-Korean relations, reconciliation and  and reunification.
                     Mr Ro has committed no crime whatsoever. He simply visited one part of his own country which has been artificially divided by outside forces (chiefly US imperialism).  We ask why is the south Korean regime so afraid of its people visiting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ?.

Our demands are simple and straightforward - the unconditional release of Mr Ro Su Hui and the dropping of any charges against him.