South Korea: The Tiger Strikes
Arrests, attempted arrests and arguments
Attempts were still being made to deliver summonses and arrest trade union leaders - some of them successful. A letter circulated by the ‘Han Nuri’ internet service reported to the world that three strike leaders at Han-la Heavy Industry Co. had been taken into custody on 15th January. A special ‘task-force’ of police had also been formed to pursue the leaders of the Hyundai Federation of Unions - each of them promised promotion by one rank for the arrest of any of them. Threats were even being made against the international trade union delegation visiting Seoul for ‘supporting an illegal strike’ and for ‘interfering in the country’s affairs’. If they did not refrain from speaking at rallies etc. they would find themselves deported.
So far, the ‘wanted’ KCTU Executive Committee members were still safe in their camp on the hill. Visits by law enforcement officers had been easily repulsed. They had not come in large numbers and the government had not decided whether it could run the risk of creating martyrs. Whenever a mass movement threatens the authority of the ruling class, it is torn between repression and concession.
Ruling party chairman, Li Hung-koo, had announced he was seeking the intervention of Cardinal Stephen Kim Souhwan, a well known mediator on such occasions, to come to the aid of the party and help settle the crisis peacefully. But he had insisted in the same breath that the labour laws must stay, essential as they were in "helping the nation’s economic recovery". This was simply a repeat of the line taken by the president in his New Year address on 7th January which had so angered the striking workers. They had been told that the "sacrifices must be shared" and that "workers in advanced countries like France, USA, Germany don’t strike".
It was clear however that the president and his men were becoming jittery. Opinion polls showed public support for the strike still increasing - from just over 50% on the first day, now in the region of 80%-85%. The previously tame and compliant Federation of Korean Trade Unions had joined in the action once more, bringing the combined total of strikers to over one million. The FKTU leadership had given no commitment to participate further in the strike but its ranks were being infected by the enthusiasm and determination expressed by the members of the rival federation.
Kim Young-sam was perfectly aware that arresting the KCTU leaders would inflame the situation; but lifting the warrants would be a sign of weakness and a humiliation. His indecision reflects the splits developing at the top of Korean society which in turn have the effect of emboldening the movement. It is now, more than three weeks into the strike, that the president considers inviting the leaders of the two main opposition parties to his residence - the Blue House - for talks. After this meeting of "The Three Kims" (Young-sam, Dae-jung and Jong-pil) he will promise to lift the arrest warrants and to contemplate amendment of the labour laws.
Audacity of the movement
There are still arrests and injuries on the demonstrations and now a second worker’s life hangs in the balance after he has resorted to one of the most extreme forms of protest - self-immolation - setting himself on fire. In a number of places, company thugs have been sent in against picketing workers some of whom lie in hospital with broken noses and ribs. But each day brings news of little local victories that feed the confidence and audacity of the movement. In this ‘high-tech’ general strike, a video team is recording every event in the strike. Operating as they do, under the wing of the KCTU and the "Task Force" (NCPD), their material is used for keeping up the morale of the strikers and spreading the news the bosses’ media hide.
‘Workers’ News Productions ‘ is a veteran but youthful team that has made no fewer than 20 tapes on the history of the democratic workers’ movement since 1987. They combine intrepid filming with inventive ways of presenting the propaganda of the workers’ movement. One of the tapes, for example, shows footage run backwards of the president and his men walking together somewhere. This is a metaphor, writes an explanation in English, to show that the president and the government are "not going forward but are going back". It also shows Kim Young-sam’s inaugural ceremony in 1993 when he elaborated all his "hopeful remarks and rosy promises" to the people and then catalogues the disasters in which hundreds of people were killed - the collapse of the Sungsu Bridge and the Sampoong Department Store and the Taegu gas explosion - all the result, of bribery scandals involving political and economic figures and a total abuse of public authority.
The two videos about the latest movement show some of the most colourful and dramatic scenes of the strike struggle. They show the workers of the notorious Masan and Changwon export zone fighting the riot police and disarming them - putting their shields, batons and tear-gas rifles in a pile and making them sit or kneel meekly in a circle. It shows workers in Chonjoo piercing their fingers and writing with their own blood their demands for the nullification of the labour law. It shows effigies being burnt in Kyoungjoo and a traditional funeral ceremony for the New Korea Party in Kyoungkeedo. The teams of volunteer guards at the entrance to Myong Dong Cathedral grounds are shown doing their 24 hour shifts in temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees. "They don’t mind their difficulties because they are protecting the KCTU leaders from the fear of arrest" runs the explanation sheet to reassure its international "customers". (The video, like numerous audio tapes of the songs of the movement, is sold and sent world-wide to raise funds as well as support for the strikers and their campaign).
It was beside a kerosene stove in one of the make-shift tents at the Cathedral refuge that Yoon Young-mo, the International Secretary of the KCTU, explained how things stood on 16th January as the strike went into its fourth week.
"We have been regulating the intensity and pace of our struggle. It is not a 100 metre race. It’s not even a 400 metre or a mile race. It’s a marathon. Certain days we go on full strike, like yesterday when we had the telecommunication workers out for the first time and subway workers for the second time.
"There were rallies in 15 different areas with a total of 200,000 on the streets. In Seoul we had permits for the march, but the size probably scared the government and the police. They turned it into a bit of chaos by blocking the marchers and forcing them to disperse by firing tear gas into the crowd.
"They use everything, sometimes even clubs with nails stuck in them. They have at least three types of tear gas - one fired from a vehicle with 64 canisters launched at the same time creating a lot of sound. Another one is fired from a gun and they usually fire it horizontally instead of into the air- aiming at people. Another is a fire extinguisher-like sprayer that sprays into people’s faces causing you to vomit immediately.
"The police have a huge presence in the area all the time... it is hard to imagine just how many. They are assigned to places where it is difficult to see them, they’ve got bus-loads waiting to come in at any time, large rows standing everywhere.
"If they came in to arrest us people here would make as much resistance as possible. They came before just to issue the warrants - one or two people. If they come in for the real thing they will come in thousands. It could only be violent if there is resistance. But it is very much a political decision whether they come in or not. It’s not a military raid decision to be made by a field commander. It can only be made by Kim Young-sam.
"There are some signs of panicking within the government itself - different signals. Some people in the ruling party are talking about more moderate action, dialogue. But it is a government that is completely out of touch with the people.
"A question of completing the task that was begun in 1987? Yes, of course! But the problem (then) was we were not able to take what we had achieved for ourselves. This is the first time in history that we have got something that will stay with us and that is the KCTU"
Strike scaled down but public support still mounting
The independent union federation was enjoying enormous popular support and the organised working class was regarded with great respect as the force which would determine the future course of events. It was at this moment, however, that the leaders decided on a tactical ‘pause’ in the battle and scaled the strikes down to once a week - every Wednesday. They also announced plans for demonstrations and rallies to take place throughout the country on Saturdays, designated "Days with the People". But anger in all quarters against the government remained unabated. In some ways it was growing greater. The impact of the strike itself had given workers a sense of their own power. They were beginning to feel their organised will was invincible. Why then was the struggle now taken into a lower gear?
"Struggle Flash" - a strike bulletin produced by the NCPD ("Task Force") and posted on the internet reports a "heightened mood of tension amongst the unit unions in each firm". As of 17th January, KCTU leaders from 42 unions in eight different industries - a total of 399 have been sued or summonsed. The riot police have already arrested 300 people at legally approved rallies. 21 people have been seriously injured. For example, Cho Young-yong of Ulsan’s Hyundai Motors had to have 56 stitches in a head wound. Kung Jae-koo from Asia Motors was hospitalised for surgery to his eye.
But on 18th January the bulletin’s headlines were just as ‘up-beat’ with news of support still flooding in: "Various social groups wave their hands of support and solidarity". 849 writers had told Kim Young-sam to "stop blind-walking" and condemned the government’s response to the workers as "obnoxious and nasty". 3,551 members of Seoul National University - all its lecturers, undergraduates, graduates, alumni and professors - had signed a statement protesting that "What President Kim was trying to restore was not the economy but dictatorship."
Fifteen Catholic priests had set up a tent alongside the KCTU leaders at the cathedral and launched a campaign distributing stickers saying, "We have chosen the wrong president" and "I hate civilian dictatorship". Other priests - in Chun-gu - leaving a mass they had held for the "repentance" of the Kim Young-sam regime, had found their path blocked by the riot police. "We went through the barricades (only) when union members assembled around the procession, surrounded the police and broke down the barricades after a heavy scuffle".
Workers everywhere - on strike or not on strike - were on the march - defying bans, defeating police and carrying on with their demonstrations peacefully. In Taegu there was a rally of textile workers demanding the arrest of the boss of Sampoong - a local factory - because of his "murderous assaults". After the rally they marched to a local police station. Then they organised a "night of unity" among workers of the dyeing industry, and proceeded through the city with candles in hand. Night marches are strictly speaking illegal but that wasn’t stopping them breaking out all over the country.