[asia-apec 315] Strike Urgent Report #11

[amc]

                                    Strike Urgent Report #11 
                            - edited on January. 12, 1997, at 01:00 
                       Ninth day of the general strike in THE SECOND WAVE 

Who Threatens the Worker's Life? 
     On about 4 p.m January 10, an employee of the auto company suffered a
serious burn after 
     setting himself ablaze in a street protest in the southern city of Ulsan.
     Chong Chae-sok, 33, reportedly, poured the flammable paint thinner over
his body and shouted 
     "Abolish the bad labor law!" before setting himself on fire.
     The auto worker was among some 20,000 Hyundai protesting workers who
then clashed with 
     teargas-spraying riot police on a march towards the Ulsan City Hall.
     On the afternoon of yesterday, January 11, an unidenfied man was struck
by a stone which had 
     been thrown by police in front of the Bank of Korea, the center of
Seoul, and was in crisis of 
     loss of eyesight. 
     That afternoon, there was a large rally where over 30,000 people
including labors, students and 
     ordinary citizens took part and after the rally, they marched toward
the Myongdong Cathedral. 
     But the police tried to hold the march by force with tear gas, metal
stick and stones, and under 
     the collision between citizens and the police, that accident happened.
The man is in process of 
     being evacuated to a hospital.

Korean Roman Catholic Officially Rejecting the Government Firm Confrontation
Policy 
     While arrest warrants were issued to the seven KCTU leaders who were
going on a stay-in 
     strike in the Myongdong Cathedral on 10th and hundreds of riot police
were poised to enter the 
     Cathedral, The Seoul parish of Roman Catholic Church expressed an
announcement named "Our 
     opinion on the situation related with Labor Law" confirmed by Cardinal
Kim Soo-hwan, and then 
     made it clear officially that they were against the firm confrontation
policy by the government.
     They clearified in that announcement that the government is
fundamentally responsible for the 
     labor strikes, so if the goverment tries to solve the state by
resorting to the logic of force, it 
     will suffer the whole national stand.
     They also added, "the Kim's government must bear in mind that they will
face with great 
     resistance by religious men and the whole nation, if they fails to
recall the fact that in the last 
     time when the Korean Telecom Labor Union on a sit-down strike in the
Cathedral was 
     crack-downed by the raid of police force.

Solidarity Eggs : Those Who Still Make Us Smile! 
     The 4 broadcating unions where strikes were going on from January 7,
held an assembly of "the 
     day of censuring the ruling New Korea Party(NKP)" at the headquarters
of the NKP in Yoido 
     on January 10.
     The over 1,000 broadcating workers there showed 'volley of eggs'. They
suddenly threw eggs 
     prepared in the course of the event toward the building with slogans of
the impeachment of the 
     NKP.
     Meanwhile, a farmer had transmitted a truck of eggs to Korea
Broadcating System(KBS) Labor 
     Union with the encouragement of the walk-outs. He refused positively to
have an interview, 
     saying that "With the labors struggling in the severe cold of winter, I
feel ashamed fo showing a 
     face for that trifle."



     Published by the Telecommunication Taskgroup for General Strike (TTGS)
     Distributed through Online BBS Service and Internet twice a day
     Phone : +82-2-855-1913
     E-mail : rys at member.sing-kr.org
     Homepage : http://kpd.sing-kr.org/strike