Text Fwd: Excessive government interference in Korean Railway Workers’ Union strike

* Image source: same as below:

"Kim Gi-tae, head of the Korean Railway Workers’ Union, explains the rational for the strike at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) office located in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo neighborhood, Nov. 30."

Excessive government interference in Korean Railway Workers’ Union strike:
As the administration moves to brand union actions as anti-government, its new policy on public corporation advancement is being met with growing criticism
Posted on : Dec.1,2009 12:10 KST Modified on : Dec.1,2009 12:12 KST

As the Lee administration takes a hardline response to the Korean Railway Workers’ Union (KRWU) strike, calling it illegal, labor experts are criticising the Lee administration for denying the workers’ right to strike.

After going through an unsuccessful mediation process with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), the KRWU held a vote among its members and decided to launch a strike on Nov. 26 to demand the withdrawal of the Korea Railroad Corporation’s (KORAIL) unilateral decision to terminate their collective bargaining agreement. The union has been following the law about strike procedures and have excluded 10,000 members who are necessary for maintaining rail services from the strike. Police, however, who say the strike is illegal announced on Monday that they will be filing arrest warrants for 15 members of the union leadership, including one for Kim Gi-tae, head of KRWU.

The Lee administration is referring to the strike as illegal because the strike is against government policies advancing public corporations and is for the reinstatement of laid off workers. KORAIL is also saying that the strike is characteristic of an anti-government strike opposed to the advancement of public corporations and therefore cannot be viewed as justified. KORAIL is pointing out the fact that the union is including the reinstatement of workers who have been laid off, the maintenance of full-time unionists and other management-rights that they insist belong solely to the company in its demands.

Some observers are pointing out, however, that since the plan to advance public corporations being pushed by the Lee administration in fact includes changes in work conditions that must be agreed upon through labor-management wage negotiations, the Lee administration’s claim is less persuasive. Gwon Yeong-guk, lawyer on the labor committee of MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society, says the new policy on public corporation advancement includes a wage system reform plan, including a peak wage system and incentive system, and is a matter that will bring about great changes in work conditions. Gwon points out that KRWU went on strike as a result of its opposition to KORAIL’s decision to terminate the collective bargaining agreement, which means the Lee administration’s characterization of the strike as illegal and a political statement in opposition to government policy lacks persuasiveness.

Do Jae-hyeong, professor of Ewha Women’s University, says that although there may be several aims of the strike, it is customary to determine legality based on the strike’s main goal. Professor Do says that calling a strike illegal on the basis of highlighting a relatively unimportant point of contention may be a violation of the employees’ right to strike.

There are also those who say that the police investigation of union leaders reflects the Lee administration’s will to reform public corporations, and very possibly could escalate tensions. Professor Do says if prosecutors are raising the question of the legality of the strike based on goals rather than procedures or style, it means too much room is being allowed for prosecutors to make subjective and arbitrary judgments. Do says this could worsen labor-management relations.

Jo Don-moon, professor of Catholic University, says the Lee administration is not viewing labor-management relations as an autonomous relationship between company and management and refers to what is happening as the result of excessive government interference. 　

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
© 2006 The Hankyoreh Media Company


* Reference document

The Current Situation of Labor Rights in South Korea
Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, 2009.11.03

Text Fwd: S. Korea to Deploy Airburst Rifle to Afghanistan

* Image source/ caption: same as below

'Dual-Caliber Airburst Weapon'

Korea Times
S. Korea to Deploy Airburst Rifle to Afghanistan
By Jung Sung-ki, Staff Reporter
Nov. 30, 2009

South Korean troops to be deployed in Afghanistan will be armed with the latest K-11 airburst assault rifles for self-defense, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

The ministry unveiled the timeline as well as the troop numbers and equipment to be sent to the Central Asian nation, last week.

About 350 soldiers will be dispatched to Afghanistan with the main mission of protecting 120 South Korean civilian reconstruction workers, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said in a National Assembly session. Two dozen civilian reconstruction workers have already been sent to the war-torn country.

A motion calling for the deployment is to be submitted to the Assembly this month, he said.

Besides the K-11 rifle, Korean troops will be supported by four UH-60 transport helicopters, which will be able to avoid potential terrorist attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), ministry officials said. The ministry is also considering sending an RQ-101 unmanned aerial vehicle, they said.

Other key equipment for the Afghan deployment includes Barracuda 4x4 armored wheeled vehicles, K1A/K2 assault rifles and K200 amphibious armored personnel carriers.

Developed by the state-funded Agency for Defense Development, the K-11 consists of a semi-automatic 20mm smart grenade launcher, an under-slung assault rifle firing a standard 5.56mm NATO round, and a top-mounted computer-assisted sighting system with integrated rangefinder and thermal infrared night vision capabilities.

Using a self-detonation system, the 20mm round from the rifle can track its target and explode three to four meters above it. And it is also capable of penetrating walls of buildings.

The Barracuda, built by Doosan DST, is a tactical armored vehicle whose steel plate armor provides ballistic protection against 7.62mm caliber projectiles.

The vehicle can transport 12 men at a top speed of 100 kilometer per hour and climb steep slopes. It is equipped with a roof-mounted small-caliber weapon station, CCTV and a dozer system.

The UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It is armed with 7.62mm machine guns and has a top speed of 296 kilometers per hour.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

Text Fwd: [Column] Understanding Kim Jong-il’s policy formula

* Image source/ caption: Same as below
'Lee Jong-seok'

Hankyoreh
[Column] Understanding Kim Jong-il’s policy formula
Lee Jong-seok, former Minister of Unification
Nov. 30, 2009

Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun has used a mathematical analogy to describe what is happening when North Korea behaves in provocative ways that go against South Korea’s expectations. Minister Jeong suggests we are using the decimal system while North Korea is not. Jeong is attempting to get us to realize that if we are to understand North Korea’s strategy, we must first comprehend its understanding of the situation and the diplomatic formula it is choosing to apply.

From the perspective of western nations, North Korea’s long-range missile launches and nuclear tests are clear provocations. Thus, the North Korea reflected in the eyes of western nations is an irrational and deceitful “rogue state,” which, in pursuing nuclear development, has consistently either failed to carry out its agreed-upon promises or else unilaterally abrogated them. North Korea’s constant use of coarse and threatening language has reinforced this western understanding.

What, however, can be said of the West? It tends to believe that its actions are always good since it has no intention of attacking North Korea and is prepared to guarantee the security of the North Korean system and provide economic aid on the condition that it gives up its nuclear program. However, the West has been inconsistent, including the time when the U.S. turned back progress that had been made on the North Korean nuclear issue with the September 19 Joint Statement, invalidating it by applying severe financial sanctions on North Korea for “suspicions of counterfeiting U.S. dollars” without the presentation of any clear evidence.

Japan, has also been inconsistent citing the “issue of abductions of Japanese citizens” as the primary reason for going back on its promise that after the agreement on second-stage North Korean disablement it would give North Korea 200,000 tons of fuel oil. Such actions have provided North Korea with a justification for its provocations, and habituate it to dealing with the West on a different mathematical basis.

In an English-language commentary, Yang Sung-chul, former South Korean ambassador to the U.S., once commented on the confusion Kim Jong-il has likely felt as he has witnessed severe transformations in North Korea policy taking place between successive U.S. administrations. Over the past two decades, Kim has been the supreme policymaker in North Korea. Every time there has been a change in administrations in the U.S., he has seen the abandonment of promises made with North Korea and near 180-degree turnarounds in North Korea policy. The DPRK-US Joint Communique of 2000 promise to improve relations with North Korea was immediately repudiated once the Bush administration took office in 2001, and North Korea found itself placed by the Bush administration together with Iraq and Iran in the “Axis of Evil” that referred essentially to targets of annihilation. Now, with the Obama administration in office, the U.S. is moving towards a policy of engagement once again.

The same can be said of South Korea’s policy toward North Korea. Immediately after signing the 1991 South-North Basic Agreement with the Roh Tae-woo administration, Kim Jong-il was forced to deal with the antagonistic North Korea policy of the Kim Young-sam administration. Afterwards, he was met with the policies of two presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who sought reconciliation, cooperation, peace and prosperity. In response to these changes, Kim Jong-il also showed interested in building new inter-Korean relations, and even presented a summit agreement. However, the Lee Myung-bak administration’s Vision 3000: Denuclearization and Openness effectively repudiated this agreement.

While the West has raged over Kim Jong-il’s foul play over the past two decades, he has essentially been taking in the dizzying view of a North Korea policy rollercoaster in the U.S. and South Korean administrations. He most likely has wondered exactly what beat he was supposed to be dancing to. Perhaps to him, South Korea and the U.S. appear utterly impossible to predict. As a result, it appears that Kim may have become every bit as distrustful of South Korean and U.S. leaders as they were of him, and that distrust has had a major influence on the formation of his own diplomatic arithmetic.

Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea Policy, will soon be visiting Pyongyang. He is charged with the huge mission of drawing North Korea back into the six-party talks and with making headway in realizing peace on the Korean Peninsula. I would like to offer some advice for Bosworth and the policy officials of the Obama administration as they meet this momentous occasion. I hope that they will carry out negotiations with North Korea using a new U.S. arithmetic that takes into account Kim Jong-il’s own perspective and diplomatic arithmetic rather than simply the perspective of the U.S. This will provide a practical foundation for a peaceful resolution on the North Korea nuclear issue.

The views presented in this column are the writer’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Hankyoreh.