North and South Korea

Anti-feminist backlash in South Korea

Yoon Suk-yeol, a right wing former prosecutor, has won the South Korean presidential elections. The self-described anti-feminist promised to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family during his campaign, alleging that it was discriminatory to men and that women no longer experience sexism. He also stated that the penalty for falsely reporting sex crimes would be increased. The election saw a high turnout, with roughly 77% of the eligible population voting. Sim Sang-jung, a women’s and labour activist and the only woman presidential candidate, commented: “Sexism clearly exists in South...

Yang freed. Back his call to free Lee!

After 84 days in jail, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions president Yang Kyeung-soo has hailed the “spirit of international solidarity” which sustained him and helped win his release, and demanded “immediate release of brother Lee Cheuk-yan… and imprisoned workers around the world”. Lee Cheuk-yan was general secretary of the now-dissolved Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. He is serving 18 months in prison for his role in a Tiananmen Square memorial demonstration and other pro-democracy protests, and faces new charges under the National Security Law. Yang was arrested on 2 September in...

General strike in South Korea

Tens of thousands of workers, many dressed in costumes modelled on the Netflix series Squid Game , demonstrated in Seoul and other South Korean cities on 20 October as part of a general strike organised by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The strike was to demand a range of pro-working class economic and social reforms, as well as freedom for KCTU president Yang Kyung-Soo. Yang was jailed last month , along with other organisers, after the government claimed a union demonstration in July violated Covid restrictions. He is the 13th KCTU president in a row to be jailed. Following the...

Free Yang Kyeung-soo!

On 3 July, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, South Korea’s national union federation, organised a rally of 8,000 workers in Seoul to demand measures to protect lives and save jobs in the Covid-19 pandemic. (South Korea has had a relatively good record on Covid, but a relative case surge since the middle of June.) Now KCTU President Yang Kyeung-soo has been arrested (2 September) for organising the rally, which the authorities are saying was in violation of Covid-control regulations. The KCTU was surrounded early in the morning and police in riot suppression gear smashed their way in...

Victory in Korea: teachers' union wins seven year fight for recognition

Almost seven years ago — in October 2013 — the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) came to LabourStart with a problem. The national government had given the union an ultimatum: either it would change its rules to prohibit dismissed or retired teachers from being members of the union, or the union would be deregistered. At issue were just nine teachers who, according to the government, were illegally members of the 60,000 member union. Facing the prospect of being outlawed, the union stood its ground. Working together with its national trade union centre, the militant Korean...

Testing: learn from Korea and Taiwan

Some trade-unionists have suggested swab-testing of all workers in each workplace before a return to work. The Tory government’s focus on the crude total of test numbers as the big thing has boosted this idea. Full isolation pay for those with symptoms, or identified as contacts of virus-sufferers, and social distancing plus PPE where necessary in the workplace, will help much more. So will regular (instant-result) temperature checks, widely used and effective (so far as we can tell) in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. More testing is surely needed for a “tracking and tracing” policy. When...

Requisition and workers' control to get tests and PPE

In the Thursday 8pm “clapping for the NHS” on 2 April 2020, many people chanted “Test! Test! Test! PPE!” Health workers are pressing the government on its failure to meet its promises to expand testing hugely, to make PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] available to all, and to agree adequate PPE guidelines for health workers. So, even, are NHS bosses. NHS Providers, a confederation of NHS hospital, mental health, community, and ambulance trusts, said on 3 April: “There are still trusts that are unable to begin testing, and lack of swabs, reagents and test kits is a continuing concern”. They...

Barbarism or barbarism?

The South Korean film Parasite, a satire of social and economic inequality, has made quite an impression on two major institutions of world cinema. At the Cannes film festival it won the Palme d’Or, and then it won Best Film at the Oscars. It is not difficult to satirise such things, especially when there is an appetite for such in the institutions and audiences of the bourgeoisie. These are feel-good films because they help maintain the myth that world cinema is in fine aesthetic and moral health. In his previous works (The Host, Mother, Snowpiercer, and Okja) director Bong Joan-ho follows...

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