hankyoreh

Minju Nochong) begins their demonstration in the plaza of Bupyeong Station

It has been four days since the Daejeon Metropolitan Police said they would apply for arrest warrants for the leadership of the Korea Cargo Transport Workers’ Union (KCTWU), but they have yet to secure them, leading to criticism that they unreasonably rushed to arrest.

On May 16, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU, Minju Nochong) and KCTWU’s rally to demand the reinstatement of fired Korea Express truck drivers and labor rights of ‘specially-employed’ laborers resulted in a clash with police. On May 19, police announced they would seek arrest warrants against seven of the unions’ leaders, including KCTWU’s Chairman Kim Jong-in and KCTWU’s Headquarters Chief Kim Dal-sik. As of Friday, police had not yet applied to a court for a warrant. A police official said they were ordered to strengthen the content of the warrant by prosecutors, so they have returned to their headquarters. The official said it appeared they would have to analyze video footage to see if the suspects intensified the demonstrations and if they engaged in actual violence. This response indicates that police had sought arrest warrants before properly confirming the charges against union leaders.

Observers note that KCTWU’s leadership took measures to prevent a clash, declaring an end to the demonstration once the participants reached the Korea Express transport center. The current situation mirrors that of last September when the police had announced that the union’s leadership were responsible for illegal demonstration activities, and were criticized then as well as unreasonable. In that instance, union leaders had been assaulted by a few fellow unionists for trying to end the demonstration peacefully.

Police are reportedly taking great pains to secure warrants, however, 12 of the 32 warrants they applied for have been thrown out and searches of the KCTWU headquarters in Seoul, Daejeon and Gwangju have turned up no evidence supporting their claims that union leaders are responsible for organizing a violent demonstration. A high-ranking police official said they were proceeding carefully since the burden on them would be great if all of requests for arrest warrants for the union leadership were tossed out.

Meanwhile, police have been reacting excessively to even one-man demonstrations, taking away articles used during demonstrations. Police took a banner and other protest materials from an official of the Korean Metal Workers' Union’s (KMWU) headquarters for conducting a one-man demonstration on the irregular worker issue in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido on Sunday. Park Jeom-gyu, a KMWU union official, said police surrounded him as he was returning to his car after finishing a one-man demonstration against proposed revisions to the irregular worker bill, and they took from him a pillory made of Styrofoam that had a protest message written on it.

Accordingly, protests are emerging claiming police are targeting labor for investigation. The police have summoned six members of the union leadership for questioning, including KCTU President Lim Seong-kyu. The KCTU spokesperson indicated that they are planning to refuse the summons, saying that it is not the leaders of KCTU, but police who should be criticized because they have no evidence to support their treatment of union leaders as criminals.

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