[asia-apec 310] KCTU Report No. 10

[alarm]

Strike Urgent Report #10 
edited on January. 11, 1997, at 01:00 

Eighth day of the general strike in THE SECOND WAVE 

Arrests of the 20 KCTU Leaders Sought 

After President Kim toughening his position on the ongoing labor strikes
as senior
government officials held a series of emergency meetings to find a
solution to the weeks
long walkout yesterday, prosecutors requested arrest warrants for 20
KCTU leaders.
But the court issued writs of forcing summon which compelled the KCTU
leaders to
appear in court instead of arrest warrants. 

The court in charge of warrant-judging issued the writs and said "after
interrogating theparties concerned we will decide whether or not
warrants of arrest will be issued"
adding that "if the KCTU leaders including Kwon Young-kil doesn't appear
in court till
10 a.m. on 10th, we'll re-issue the writs or decide to issue the arrest
warrants only on
the basis of documents. But the KCTU clearified they will not accede to
the demand to
appear in court, asserting that "this general strike is the expression
of the protest against the detrimental revision of labor law, which will
make working conditions aggrevated. So there is no problem in legal
aspects."

Related with that, prosecutors and the police seized and searched the
offices of the
KCTU, the Korean Federation Automobile Workers Unions, the Korean
Federation
of Professional and Technicians Unions and the Korean Council of
Hospital Unions
with a seizure and search warrants issued by the court.


International trade union delegation to visit Korea 

The Committee of labor-management affairs of OECD decided to hold the
meeting for
the purpose of discussing the recent state of affairs on labor law
transition in Korea, so the affair of revising the labor law is to be
discussed officially in international
organization. They informed that they'll open the committee in Paris on
January 22 and
make a report for Cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, an international trade union delegation will arrive in Seoul
on January 11
and will seek meetings with Korea's highest authorities in order to
express the
international trade union movement's concern over developments in the
country
following the adoption of new labour legislation. 

The delegation will be led by Takashi Izumi, general secretary of the
ICFTU's Asian
and Pacific regional organisation (ICFTU-APRO) and will include senior
representatives of the Paris-based Trade Union Advisory Committee to the
OECD
(TUAC) and of ICFTU-associated International Trade Secretariats (ITS,
international
industry trade union federations). Upon its arrival in Seoul, the
delegation will first have talks with the leadership of the two ICFTU
affiliates in the country: the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (KFTU)
and the Korean Confederation of Trade Union
(KCTU). 

The ICFTU and TUAC have closely followed the situation in Korea. On
December
28, the ICFTU lodged a formal complaint against Korea at the ILO on the
basis on the
new labour legislation. The TUAC for its part has called on the OECD's
Employmetn,
Labour and Social Affairs Committee to meet as a matter of urgency to
examine the
Korean situation. Both the ICFTU and TUAC have already made
representations in
support of their demands to the Korean President Kim Young-sam.