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KCTU First Vice President Youn Taeg-gun speaks at the 17th ILO Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting held in Singapore on Dec. 6. (courtesy of KCTU)

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) denounced the South Korean government’s response to a strike by the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Division (TruckSol) during an International Labour Organization (ILO) meeting for the Asia-Pacific region, where it described Seoul’s response as a violation of international labor standards.

At the 17th ILO Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting in Singapore on Tuesday afternoon, KCTU First Vice President Youn Taeg-gun delivered a keynote speech.

“Now the [South Korean] government made the ILO conventions Nos. 87, 98, and 29 a mere scrap of paper immediately after their ratification,” he said. In stressing the injustice of the South Korean government’s response to the TruckSol strike, he accused it of using the law to repress freedoms while talking about the “rule of law” and “liberty.”

“The government doesn’t recognize the truck drivers as workers and launched an investigation on the false allegation of violation of competition law while issuing a ‘return-to-work’ order, which constitutes forced labor,” he said.

“The president himself has gone as far as to liken the strike to North Korea’s nuclear threat, treating the worker's struggle as a war, and doesn't hide its anti-labor behavior,” he added.

“Special attention to the situation in Korea is requested,” he continued.

Youn also emphasized that “an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient recovery is impossible without full recognition of the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.”

“In this sense, I support the director general's commitment that international labor standards and its supervisory system will be central to ILO's work,” he continued.

“KCTU will take a leading role in a struggle forward [to] a society where all workers can exercise their fundamental rights without threat and fear,” he pledged.

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

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