hankyoreh

Mun Jun-hyeok

Mun Jun-hyeok, 18, who passed the test for a high school equivalency certificate two months ago, is the founder of the National Moomin Confederation of Trade Unions, or the Minmoo Confederation for short (a pun on the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, or KCTU, which begins with the Korean word “Minjoo”). The Minmoo Confederation’s flag portrays the eponymous Moomins, characters from a Finnish comic book.

The confederation advocates “improving the quality of life for Moomin nerds who would like to have enough time and money to support themselves while still being nerdy.” Since June 27, Mun has been encouraging people to join the Minmoo Confederation and to join him at the National Workers’ Assembly on June 30. Obviously, there is not actually a Minmoo Confederation for Moomin enthusiasts.

“If bonuses are included in calculating the minimum wage and real wages decrease, nerds won’t have as much money to add to their collections. We need to get rid of this law that’s aimed at reducing the minimum wage,” Mun said with a mischievous grin on his face during an interview with The Hankyoreh at Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul on June 30. It was with the same humorous frame of mind that Mun posted the Minmoo Confederation’s declaration of establishment and official song to social media accounts.

founder of the National Moomin Confederation of Trade Unions

Just one day after Mun posted the Minmoo Confederation application form to social media using Google Forms on June 29, 35 people had filled it out, and seven people, or one fifth of the confederation’s total members, attended the National Workers’ Assembly at Gwanghwamun Plaza the next day to represent the confederation. Netizens had resonated with Mun’s argument that the minimum wage ought to guarantee not just enough money to get by but enough to enable a decent life by supporting “the simple pleasures of nerdiness.”

“For ordinary people, labor unions are unfamiliar and intimidating. That’s why I wanted to highlight the adorable and approachable Moomins to get people interested in unions and the workers’ assembly,” Mun said. This teenager’s silly joke conveys a message that isn’t silly at all.

Mun lives in Sacheon, a city in South Gyeongsang Province. Why would a teenage boy who is into Moomins have come all the way to Seoul on June 30 to stand in solidarity with the KCTU? Until he dropped out of school in Mar. 2017, Mun had been the head of a teenage rights group called the Middle and High School Student Alliance. “While I was studying human rights issues, I began to see how teenagers, women and irregular workers are discriminated against in the workplace. I saw that human rights and labor issues are connected,” he said

Mun was raised by a conservative-leaning father who doesn’t like South Korean President Moon Jae-in but told Mun he should find his own path in life and by a mother who is “progressive, at least for someone from Gyeongsang Province.” He first got interested in teenage rights when he was in middle school.

“Even through elementary school, no one told me to study. But once I started middle school, I started feeling pressure to perform academically, and that can really mess you up. It was around that time [2014] when progressive-leaning Park Jong-hun was elected as school commissioner in South Gyeongsang province and people started talking about passing an ordinance about students’ rights. I was blown away when I heard someone say that students are people, too, and that the college entrance exam shouldn’t keep them from enjoying their rights. That was when I joined the teenage movement,” he said.

After starting high school, Mun became an activist in earnest by creating a school club for students’ rights. When candlelit rallies were spreading around the country in 2016, he even organized a candlelit rally for teenagers in Sacheon. “I put up posters at school encouraging students to take part in the candlelit rallies, and I got students from other schools to help out by advertising the rallies on their schools’ Facebook message boards,” he said.

But this 17-year-old boy’s “naïve” desire to hold a candlelit rally in his city ended up causing him to quit school. “The school got a call from the police’s intelligence department, who wanted to know what this kid was doing as the leader of a teenage group. The school didn’t put any pressure on me after that, but it was stressful just to think that the police were prying into my life and that I kept getting called to the office even though I hadn’t ever caused any problems. I also didn’t like hearing my name on the intercom,” he said.

Mun announced that he was dropping out of school because it was keeping him from doing the things he wanted to do. At first, his parents were stunned, but soon they decided to respect the decision of their son, who had been born in their later years. During the year after Mun dropped out, he read all the books he wanted “like a shut-in” and prepared to take the high school equivalency test. From time to time, he also did some part-time work at the convenience store that his mother owned.

When I suggested that his mother’s convenience store might be hurt financially if the minimum wage goes up, Mun had a polished answer at the ready: “Mom could handle a minimum wage of even 10,000 won if the company headquarters would just cut in half the commission of 30-40 percent they take from convenience store owners each month. But if regulations on big franchises aren’t toughened and unfair practices aren’t corrected, store owners will be the only ones hurt.”

But why did Mun choose the character of the Moomins of all things for his “union of nerds”?

“The Moomins really enjoy their lives. My favorite line in the Moomin comics is when someone asks what it means to work hard, and a Moomin says it means doing the thing you hate the most. I want my life to be as relaxed and optimistic as the Moomins,” he said.

By Seon Dam-eun, staff reporter

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