THE 1980s have been marked by an extraordinary development of workers' struggles in South Korea. After the
"economic miracle", based to a large extent on the superexploitation of labour and extremely low wages, the workers are beginning to present the bill to the bosses. In terms of wage rises and the extension of trade union rights, the gains which they have registered since 1987 considerably surpass those obtained in the 40 preceding years. The foundation of the Korean Alllance of Genuine Trade Unions on
January 22 of this year expressed the birth of a new radical and combative workers' vanguard. It Is not ruled out that, after
Brazil and South Africa, the 1990s will see the development of a powerful independent movement of South Korean workers.
ENZO TRAVERSO
HE OLYMPIC GAMES in T
Seoul in 1988 revealed South Korea's modernity and level of economic development to international public opinion, still used to categorizing the country as part of the third world or one of the countries "on the path to industrialization" , whereas it is in fact a highly industrialized country. The appearance on European screens of "Why Bodhi-Dharma has left for the East", , the dazzling film of Yong Kyun Bae, has given us a tiny fragment of insight into the culture of this Asiatic peninsula, but one that is insufficient for understanding Korean social reality today. In the face of the immobility and isolation of the North Korean regime, one of the last pillars of a dying traditional Stalinist "orthodoxy", the western media have not thought it very useful, since the fall of the military regime of Chun Doo Hwan in 1987, to draw attention to the police repression and progressive limitation of liberties that have marked South Korea over the past year.
### Increasingly heavy sentences for critics
This repressive turn, reflected notably by the growth in the number of political prisoners and the increasingly heavy sentences handed out to members of democratic and left organizations, seems to have intensified after the consolidation of the regime of Rooh Tae Woo by the fusion of the governing party with two other parties (including the historic opposition party, Kim Yung Sam's Party of Democratic Reunification) to form the 14 Liberal Democratic Party. Today, there are around a thousand political prisoners International Viewpoint #184 • May 7, 1990 in South Korea (see Le Monde, February 28, 1990). In this sense, the hanging on April 17 of nine people condemned for ordinary crimes, represented a clear signal from the regime to any "subversive" force. Determination to reestablish law and order
As indicated in a communiqué from the Ministry of Justice, "these executions have shown the strong determination of the government to reestablish law and order.... through a strict application of the laws" (Le Monde, April 18, 1990). Given that the western press more or less ignored the condemnation to ten years in prison of a young left militant guilty only of having visited the North Korean capital Pyongyang to draw the attention of international public opinion to the division of Korea (see IV 180, March 12, 1990), it is not surprising that they have also completely ignored the strikes of workers in the peninsula.
The hidden face of the economic miracle, the working class of South Korea has become, on the structural plane, one of the strongest in the world - 25 million strong, it represents 60% of the total population. It is a very young working class, formed in its great majority of men and women aged between twenty and thirty years, and concentrated in the big enterprises (the chaebols). Combative and permanently confronted with police repression (it is enough to recall the massacre of Kwangju in 19801) , this generation of workers has not directly experienced any major defeats. The division of the country, the repression and above all a quite extraordinary economic growth have created a new workers' movement, whose social and political links with its predecessors (the trade union organizations that participated in the anti-Japanese struggle between 1910 and 1945 and which, after this, were destroyed by the military regime under the US occupation) remain very weak, if not non-existent.
However, the consequences of history linger on in the organizational structure of the working class, marked by the overwhelming hegemony of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU). This latter traces its origin to the scab union Cheonpyeong, which was created in 1946 by the US occupation forces and was always strictly controlled by the different military regimes which succeeded each other after the civil war. In the context of a largely export-oriented economy, "led" by the state and, during a long period, completely subject to the decisions of the United States, the South Korean working class lost all political autonomy.
More or less important strikes and social Mr or less torn sures de soca conflicts have accompanied the peninsula's economic miracle from the beginning, but it was only in the 1980s that a real rise in workers' struggles was perceptible. The first sign of change can be symbolically fixed at November 13, 1970 - on that date, a young worker in a textile factory, Chun Tae II, immolated himself in Seoul to protest against the lack of rights for workers, at a time when the hours of work were worthy of 19th century England and wages truly miserable. He launched a slogan which was subsequently taken up in all the workers' mobilizations; "we are not machines".
### Trade unions celebrate martyr's death
The sacrifice of Chun Tae Il, at once a denunciation of workers' conditions and a symbol of the struggle against the military dictatorship, has been celebrated each year by the most combative trade union organizations. In the course of the 1980s, strikes took on an unprecedented breadth and radical character. Here is a rapid summary of the most significant struggles.
In 1980, after the fall of the regime of General Park Chung Hee, struggles for democracy led by the students unleashed a vast workers' mobilization in the key industrial centres. In April, armed with dynamite, 2,000 miners from the Dongwon basin occupied the town of Sabuk 1. After the coup led by General Chun Doo Wan in December 1979, the country was shaken by a wave of worker and student agitation. The government decreed a state of emergency on May 18, 1980 and arrested the principal leaders of the opposition. The brutal repression of the demonstrators unleashed a veritable popular insurrection in the town of Kwangju (800,000 inhabitants), which was crushed by the army after 10 days of fighting. The repression of the revolt was sealed by the massacre of at least 1,000 people. Kwangju remains in the Korean memory as a symbol of the struggle for democracy.
with their families, demanding a wage increase of 40% and the removal of their trade union leader, Lee Jae Ki, compromised with the military regime.
### Kwangju insurrection drowned in blood
The latter resigned and the miners' economic demands were partially satisfied. The combination of pro-democracy demonstrations and workers' strikes led to the imposition of martial law and, at the end of May to the insurrection in the town of Kwangju, which was crushed in a bloodbath (around 1,000 deaths). The repression also hit broad sections of the workers' movement - 191 trade union cadres who had led struggles were sacked or expelled from their unions. The attempt to create a National Federation of Democratic Workers (Chunnoryun) opposed to the FKTU, was broken by force.
In May 1984, the town of Daegu was paralyzed by a demonstration of 500 taxi drivers. In the days following, the strike spread to several towns of the peninsula. Some 1,000 taxi-drivers marched through Pusan, the second city of the country (half a day in Seoul is sufficient to grasp the importance of this mode of transport in Korea.
On April 16, 1985, the workers of the second biggest industrial complex of the country, the Daewoo car factory at Inchon, in the suburbs of Seoul, went on strike in pursuit of a wage increase of 18.7%. The management were obliged to negotiate with the workers, who won important concessions. At the end of June, the strike spread to the industrial area of Kuro. Sparked off by the arrest of a trade union leader, the Kuro general strike helped the creation of two independent trade unions - the Seoul Federation of the Workers Movement (SFWM) and the
M DE HA Inchon Regional Workers' Federation (IRWE). A turning point came with the huge demonstration of May 3, 1986, in Seoul. South Korea was still subject to the military dictatorship of Chun Doo Hwan and the principal opposition party, the New Korea Democratic Party, organized a mass meeting to demand legalization?. Student associations, numerous Christian associations as well as independent trade unions from Seoul and Inchon participated in the demonstration with their slogans (the "Three Mins"— Minjok, Minju, Minjung; "nation, democracy, people"). The intervention of the police transformed the centre of Seoul into a battlefield and the demonstration was followed by numerous arrests. In January 1987 the Seoul Federation of Democratic Workers decided to dissolve itself. The cadres of several recently created left organizations have come from its breakup.
Wave of strikes in main Industrial centres
Between July and September 1987, a wave of strikes broke out in the main industrial area of South Korea, Ulsan, where the Hyundai factories are located and 10% of the gross national product is produced, and spread rapidly to the other industrial centres (Pusan, Masan, and Changwon). The main demands were for the introduction of new labour legislation and the legalization of the independent trade unions. After the government declaration of July 29, announcing the holding of direct presidential elections, the democratic movement - until then 2. Following this, the NKDP split into two other formations, led respectively by Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam. The latter has just joined forces with the Roh Tae Woo government, through the foundation of the Liberal Democratic Party.
SOUTH KOREA Support Korean workers/
The Solidarity for Korean Female Workers Committee was founded January 19 by Japanese women active in the labor and womens movements. For its first project the Committee has adopted the struggles of workers at the Korea Sumida Electric Company,
TND Korea and Asia Swany.
Workers at all three factorles organized unions during the Korean labour movement upheaval in 1987. All three companies closed their shops in late 1989 and opened up In China, paying workers there as little as one tenth of the wage they paid in Korea. The Committee Is collectIng contributions and solldarity messages for the workers, demonstrating at the companies' headquarters, and sending letters of protest to the Japanese government, demanding that these companies conform lo the labour laws of the countries In which they operate. For more information, contact the Committee, c/o Aslan Women Workers Centre, 2 3-18-34, Nishl-Wasede, Shunjuku ku, Tokyo 160, Japan,
The Korea Labor Solldarity
Group was formed recently to organize support for workers at Tandy Corporation (TC) ElectronIca, a fully-US owned plant which operated in Masen, South Korea for 17 yeara, In 1988, the company a 1,500 workera ~ mostly wornen - averaged S6-S7 per day for an 11 hour day, working seven days a week, TC was staunchly anti-union, from 1987 to 1989 women trying to organize were routinely beaten by male TC workers and company goons, resulting many times In hospitallzation and permanent mental trauma, In early 1980, the TC workers finally won a union and e $2.10 per day relse, However, last
March. TC ahul down without notice, The workers refused to accept the company's severance pay offer, and instead are fighting to get TC or another company to reopen the factory. The Solidarity
Group Is seeking Information from unlonists on Tandy policies
In the US and other countrles
Contact It by writing to: Linda
Jones, Church Committee for
Human Rights In Asla, 5253 N
Kenmore, Chicago, II, 60640
1 From the US radical trade union 15 magazine, Labor Notes, April 1990) May 7, 1990 • #184 International Viewpoint
SOUTH KOREA polarized by the student demonstrations - entered a phase of reflux and the new wave of workers' strikes stepped into the centre of the South Korean political scene. Between July and September, the whole of South Korea was swept by an unprecedented strike wave — in total, there were 3,200 stoppages involving more than two million workers. 776 strikes took place on the single day of August 28.
Subject to strong pressure from its base, the FKTU, 1,700,000 members strong, had to undertake some cosmetic improvements - in October 1988, its national secretary, Kim Dong In, was replaced by Park Jong Kun, immediately declared the independence of the FKTU from the state and proposed an alternative social and economic policy to that of the government. It was a measure designed to counteract the rise of the independent trade unions and the sympathy which they aroused within the FKTU.
During the period of July-September 1987, despite the government repression (500 militant workers arrested) the number of workplace trade unions went from 2,722 to 4,729, a growth more important than in the preceding 40 years. All these new trade unions affiliated themselves to the FKTU, despite the growing suspicion shown by the militants and strike organizers for the bureaucracy of the FKTU. This apparently contradictory phenomenon has a simple enough explanation. Because of the South Korean labour law (article 3, paragraph 5), each enterprise can only recognize the existence of a single trade union, and new forms of workers' organization have had to be built on the already existing structures. However, this attachment often remains purely formal and one of the principal demands of this wave of struggles was precisely a change in the labour legislation.
In this regard, it is interesting to cite some extracts from the manifesto of the Inchon Regional Workers' Federation, approved in August 1988; "We demand the formation of an independent trade union movement, on the basis of a democratic trade union activity.... We fight together for the implementation of measures against the capitalist and government repression and for the complete recognition of the fundamental rights of the workers. Consequently, we will struggle for the creation of democratic trade unions and for their consolidation. We solidarize with all the democratic and workers' forces that struggle for a just and democratic society, capable of defending the interests of the toiling masses" (from Korean Situationer, number 12, June-August 1988).
New labour charter demanded
On November 13, the annual workers' meeting in commemoration of the martyr16 • dom of Chun Tae Il attracted 30,000 workers, whilst more than 50,000 International Viewpoint #184 • May 7, 1990 marched through the streets of the capital to deliver to the parliament a petition demanding a new labor charter. During the meeting, several delegates pronounced themselves for the creation of a new federation of independent trade unions.
On December 12, 1988, 18,000 Hyundai workers once again went on strike at Ulsan for a working week of 44 hours (it is currently 54 hours, an increase in the annual bonus of 60%, a new labor code and the reinstatement of workers fired during previous struggles. The strike continued until April 1989, after having resisted for two weeks the assaults of 70 anti-strike units (around 14,000 police).
Accusations of North Korean involvement
The government tried to criminalize the strike movement, accusing it of being manipulated by North Korean agents (which made it a "threat to national security" and thus justified the application of the most severe repressive measures). The intervention of the government has thus contributed to the politicization of the workers' movement, to whom economic strikes now appear inextricably linked to more directly political demands (democracy, national reunification, and so on). Before the end of the strike at the Hyundai factories, it was the turn of the Seoul metro workers. This time, the employers' response was immediate — after 24 hours during which the capital's metro system was paralyzed, the leader of the trade union that had organized the strike was arrested.
The conflicts continued, victories alternating with defeats. On May 28, the University of Yeonse was the venue for the foundation of the National Teachers' Labor Union, which incarnated 10 years of struggle for democracy inside the national educational system. Starting with 20,000 members, after having resisted very strong repression (several thousand dismissals either threatened or implemented), this new trade union was still 14,000 strong at the end of the year. The last teachers' trade union had been destroyed by the dictator Park in 1960.
These struggles have been marked by a particularly sharp level of violence, not only at Ulsan where, as we have already noted, the workers at the Hyundai factories fought 14,000 police.
During the strike at Motorola, an American controlled electronics enterprise, the workers doused themselves with petrol and threatened to immolate themselves in the case of a police intervention seeking to break the strike and evacuate the factory. In another American electronics enterprise (Tandy computers) which had refused to recognize the new trade union, the workers took the director hostage and attacked the US chamber of commerce (see the Financial Times of June 15,
1989).
In 1989 some 1,550 strikes took place in South Korea. In relation to the preceding year, they were less numerous but very much longer, leading to a loss of 3.5% to the gross national product. Given also that wages increased by 20% in 1989 (17% in 1987 and 18% in 1988, a growth unparalleled in any other Asian country, it is easy to understand why economists attribute the cause of the South Korean "crisis" in a large measure to workers' agitation (the said "crisis" comprises a fall in the rate of growth of production from 12% to 6.5%, a figure which would be regarded as truly miraculous in Europe or the United States).
This rise in strike figures and the aspiration for political independence of the workers' movement led to an important step forward on January 22 of this year, with the founding conference of the Korean Alliance of Genuine Trade Unions (KAGTU). To prevent this meeting, the government had put Seoul under a state of siege through the mobilization of 18,000 police. But 500 workers' delegates, representing 14 regional and craft unions (notably the Federations of Workers' Trade Unions of Seoul and of Inchon) and 190,000 members, met at Suwon University, in the suburbs of the capital, a day before the planned date.
After having paid homage to the victims of repression and having recognized its own origins in the democratic and workers' movement that has developed in South Korea since 1970 and, more particularly, after the strike wave of 1987, the resolution approved by the conference affirmed its general political orientation; "We struggle, on the basis of the mass trade union movement, to obtain our economic rights. We also seek unity with all the popular and democratic movements fighting for a social and economic reform, for a radical change in the situation of the workers. We pursue the struggle for democracy, independence and a peaceful national reunification" (see Asian Labour Update Hong Kong, number 1, FebruaryApril 1990).
on the more strictly economic and trad inion planes, KAGTU demanded: a wag increase of 91,390 won ($138), or 23.3% of current wages: the dissolution of the employers' association, created in 1989 to counteract the rise in strikes: the suppression of the existing labor legislation, thoroughly anti-worker in content: its own legalization and the full recognition of trade union freedoms.
Government troops arrest union leaders
The special units of repression (Backkoldan) sent by the government arrived when the conference had finished. 136 trade union militants were arrested, but the general secretary of KAGTU, Dan Byong Ho, managed to escape. *