Material on the Jeju Island struggle in south Korea and Hanjin workers struggle
UK KFA | 17.09.2011 08:10 | Anti-militarism | Terror War | Workers' Movements
Some materials explaining the struggles of the workers , progressive and peace movement in south Korea which is being heavily repressed by the pro US Lee Myung Bak clique. Some links at the end
Struggle Continues to Win Final Victory
Further intensifying is the south Korean people’s struggle to gain democracy and the rights to existence against the government’s pro-conglomerate anti-people policy.
On August 27, over 30,000 unionists affiliated to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions held in Yoido, Seoul, a meeting of the two major labor bodies to vow a joint struggle in public sectors and a general strike of the workers in financial domain.
It was the first time that the two biggest trade unions in south Korea held a grand anti-government rally since the emergence of the current regime.
The participants asserted that they would continue the struggle to punish the regime from the upcoming October by-election of the Seoul mayor to the general and presidential elections slated for next year, and warned they would, for the time being, conduct a general strike in October.
The chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions stressed that they would judge through the joint struggle of the two major labor bodies the regime which ascribes all the responsibility of the policy failures to the workers.
On August 27 and 28 there took place a rally of the 4th hope-buses for making a society without layoffs and temporary jobs in Seoul.
The first event of the hope-buses began on June 11 in solidarity with Kim Jin-suk, a Committee member of the Busan area headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions who commenced a sit-in on a 35 meter-high crane at the Yeongdo shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (August 31 is her 238th day), and the dismissed workers.
On August 27 some 5,000 people from different public circles, civic organizations and opposition parties held at Cheonggye Plaza a performance and seminar demanding the repeal of the layoff and part-time job system.
The participants drummed up their fighting spirit holding placard reading “We want a society without layoffs” and chanting slogans such as “Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction, abandon at once the layoffs and secure the safety of Kim Jin-suk striking on a high-altitude crane”.
On August 28 thousands of participants in the 4th hope-buses campaign got together on Mt. Inwang standing in front of the presidential office and the head office of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction putting up placards reading “Punish Jo Nam-ho, chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction” and “Retract the layoffs”.
They appealed to more closely unite and not to stop the struggle till win the final victory for a new society without layoffs and part-time jobs and the people are the masters.
Appalled by the ever-growing people’s anti-government struggle, the security authorities mobilized some 9,000 policemen from 112 companies to suppress the workers firing water cannons. However, they could not daunt the elated enthusiasm and fighting spirit of the participants desiring for the rights of labor and existence, democracy and peace.
For a Peaceful Island
Recently the struggles of the Jeju Islanders and other people in south Korea are further intensifying against the anti-national and anti-peace moves of the south Korean authorities to build a large-scale naval base on Jeju Island in the South Sea of Korea.
It is said that if the construction project is finished the naval base can harbor some 20 warships of different kinds and the US aircraft carriers and Aegis warships.
Through the construction of the naval base the US and south Korean warmongers seek to ensure the mobile invasion on the north through the East and West Seas of Korea in contingency of the peninsula, and furthermore, to hold the hegemony of the west Pacific areas.
Jeju Island was designated in 2004 as an exclusively preservation zone for its superb scenic beauty, but the south Korean war maniacs frenzied in confrontation with the north are rushing headlong into building a military base there to provide it to their master, the US, at an early date.
The south Korean people, infuriated by the war mongers’ sinister intension to make the island an outpost of invasion to mount a preemptive attack on the north from the sea, deprive the inhabitants of their living grounds and make them victims of war, have vigorously struggled against the naval base construction project since last March.
A cultural event for peace was held on September 3 under the sponsorship of the “National Measure Council for Checking the Jeju Naval Base Construction Project”.
Over 260 people from the opposition parties and different civic organizations who came to the island from the inland via a “peace airplane”, and some 2,000 Jeju islanders from different parts of the island took part in the event.
The participants chanted slogans such as “Until the violence and war are removed from Jeju” and “Solidarity until the construction project is halted” and strongly demanded the stop of the base construction singing songs such as “Song of absolute opposition to the naval base”. They also conducted such events as making peace necklaces and flying balloon lamps wishing for peace.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the measure committee of the Gangjeong village to oppose the naval base construction project who is waging a sit-in on a watchtower called on them to lead the struggle against the base construction to make Jeju Island an island of peace, and the Gangjeong village a sanctuary of peace.
Appalled by the people's struggle the security authorities mobilized even the policemen from the inland to walk off 30 inhabitants and activists on the eve of the event on September 2, and on the very day of the event strictly encircled the venue and suppressed the people by over 1,300 fascist riot police. However, they could not daunt the fighting spirit of the participants.
In the meantime, Jeju immigrants living abroad called a press conference on September 5 in Seoul for a declaration to oppose the naval base construction project in Gangjeong village. They denounced the project as anti-peace acts of aggravating the military race and tension as it typifies a war, and demanded the stop of forceful suppression by the official forces and the release of the detainees.
The south Korean warmongers should stop at once their foolish moves to bring about war disasters on this land by enforcing the Jeju naval base construction project running against the Korean people's aspiration for realizing independence, peace and reunification through the inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation.
http://ndfsk.dyndns.org/
http://www.uk-songun.com/index.php?p=1_5_AINDF-PAGE
http://savejejuisland.org/Save_Jeju_Island/Welcome.html
Further intensifying is the south Korean people’s struggle to gain democracy and the rights to existence against the government’s pro-conglomerate anti-people policy.
On August 27, over 30,000 unionists affiliated to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions held in Yoido, Seoul, a meeting of the two major labor bodies to vow a joint struggle in public sectors and a general strike of the workers in financial domain.
It was the first time that the two biggest trade unions in south Korea held a grand anti-government rally since the emergence of the current regime.
The participants asserted that they would continue the struggle to punish the regime from the upcoming October by-election of the Seoul mayor to the general and presidential elections slated for next year, and warned they would, for the time being, conduct a general strike in October.
The chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions stressed that they would judge through the joint struggle of the two major labor bodies the regime which ascribes all the responsibility of the policy failures to the workers.
On August 27 and 28 there took place a rally of the 4th hope-buses for making a society without layoffs and temporary jobs in Seoul.
The first event of the hope-buses began on June 11 in solidarity with Kim Jin-suk, a Committee member of the Busan area headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions who commenced a sit-in on a 35 meter-high crane at the Yeongdo shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (August 31 is her 238th day), and the dismissed workers.
On August 27 some 5,000 people from different public circles, civic organizations and opposition parties held at Cheonggye Plaza a performance and seminar demanding the repeal of the layoff and part-time job system.
The participants drummed up their fighting spirit holding placard reading “We want a society without layoffs” and chanting slogans such as “Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction, abandon at once the layoffs and secure the safety of Kim Jin-suk striking on a high-altitude crane”.
On August 28 thousands of participants in the 4th hope-buses campaign got together on Mt. Inwang standing in front of the presidential office and the head office of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction putting up placards reading “Punish Jo Nam-ho, chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction” and “Retract the layoffs”.
They appealed to more closely unite and not to stop the struggle till win the final victory for a new society without layoffs and part-time jobs and the people are the masters.
Appalled by the ever-growing people’s anti-government struggle, the security authorities mobilized some 9,000 policemen from 112 companies to suppress the workers firing water cannons. However, they could not daunt the elated enthusiasm and fighting spirit of the participants desiring for the rights of labor and existence, democracy and peace.
For a Peaceful Island
Recently the struggles of the Jeju Islanders and other people in south Korea are further intensifying against the anti-national and anti-peace moves of the south Korean authorities to build a large-scale naval base on Jeju Island in the South Sea of Korea.
It is said that if the construction project is finished the naval base can harbor some 20 warships of different kinds and the US aircraft carriers and Aegis warships.
Through the construction of the naval base the US and south Korean warmongers seek to ensure the mobile invasion on the north through the East and West Seas of Korea in contingency of the peninsula, and furthermore, to hold the hegemony of the west Pacific areas.
Jeju Island was designated in 2004 as an exclusively preservation zone for its superb scenic beauty, but the south Korean war maniacs frenzied in confrontation with the north are rushing headlong into building a military base there to provide it to their master, the US, at an early date.
The south Korean people, infuriated by the war mongers’ sinister intension to make the island an outpost of invasion to mount a preemptive attack on the north from the sea, deprive the inhabitants of their living grounds and make them victims of war, have vigorously struggled against the naval base construction project since last March.
A cultural event for peace was held on September 3 under the sponsorship of the “National Measure Council for Checking the Jeju Naval Base Construction Project”.
Over 260 people from the opposition parties and different civic organizations who came to the island from the inland via a “peace airplane”, and some 2,000 Jeju islanders from different parts of the island took part in the event.
The participants chanted slogans such as “Until the violence and war are removed from Jeju” and “Solidarity until the construction project is halted” and strongly demanded the stop of the base construction singing songs such as “Song of absolute opposition to the naval base”. They also conducted such events as making peace necklaces and flying balloon lamps wishing for peace.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the measure committee of the Gangjeong village to oppose the naval base construction project who is waging a sit-in on a watchtower called on them to lead the struggle against the base construction to make Jeju Island an island of peace, and the Gangjeong village a sanctuary of peace.
Appalled by the people's struggle the security authorities mobilized even the policemen from the inland to walk off 30 inhabitants and activists on the eve of the event on September 2, and on the very day of the event strictly encircled the venue and suppressed the people by over 1,300 fascist riot police. However, they could not daunt the fighting spirit of the participants.
In the meantime, Jeju immigrants living abroad called a press conference on September 5 in Seoul for a declaration to oppose the naval base construction project in Gangjeong village. They denounced the project as anti-peace acts of aggravating the military race and tension as it typifies a war, and demanded the stop of forceful suppression by the official forces and the release of the detainees.
The south Korean warmongers should stop at once their foolish moves to bring about war disasters on this land by enforcing the Jeju naval base construction project running against the Korean people's aspiration for realizing independence, peace and reunification through the inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation.
http://ndfsk.dyndns.org/ http://www.uk-songun.com/index.php?p=1_5_AINDF-PAGE http://savejejuisland.org/Save_Jeju_Island/Welcome.html
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