As of October 10, 2006, in total the local offices of 125 out of 251 KGEU chapters have been forcefully closed down. Of those 5 local offices were closed down even before September 22. The union offices closed are usually sealed off with iron plates or bars welded.
101 members from KGEU and solidarity organizations were arrested and several of them were severely beaten up and hospitalized. Yesterday, a KGEU member, who participated in a relay of one person demonstration in protest in front of the municipality building in Buyeo, Chungnam-do(province), was arrested after his protest in the morning. Allegedly he was leading the struggle of the union to defend the office of the KGEU Buyeo Chapter. The prosecutors’ office applied for a warrant of detention to the court today, but the court did not accept the application of the warrant and then he was released tonight.
The detailed information on the arrests is annexed. They are expected to be prosecuted depending on the results of investigation by the police. The charge would be violation of clauses on special obstruction of performance of official duties on the Criminal Act. In cases of government employees, violation of Public Officials Acts would be included in their charges.
12 KGEU leaders have been summoned by the police. It is said that they have been leading and involved in illegal activities of illegal organizations and that therefore charged of violation of Public Officials Acts and National Security Law. Those summoned includes KGEU President KWON Seung Bok, General Secretary KIM Jeong Soo, vice presidents and other leaders. Some of those are summoned just because they were reciting a resolution in front of rally participants at a mass rally. Some of those are summoned just because they are considered as responsible of issuing a press release of a union statement on abolition of a military exercise mobilizing government employees.
In the end of September, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) held a meeting of vice mayors of Metropolitan Cities and vice governors of Provincial Governments. According to the meeting document, the government will “constantly make efforts to encourage transformation into legal trade unions and to correct illegal practices for the early institutionalization of sound industrial relations in civil service.” The government claimed that it would take actions for administrative and financial disadvantages against the local governments which have not implemented the MOGAHA’s directive. The MOGAHA instructed ‘the local governments to be cooperative to constantly promote transformation of illegal organizations into legal trade unions (voluntary withdrawal of membership), to conclude forceful closing down of illegal organizations’ offices and to thoroughly monitor the offices closed down in order not to be used again.’ In fact, some local governments have already granted the union offices back to the KGEU locals. But few of the KGEU chapters are reported to get into ‘legalization’ under the special law that severely restricts government employees’ trade union rights, or at least to hold a vote within a chapter itself to decide whether it is ‘voluntarily’ getting into legalization or not. It is mainly due to fear and despair caused by brutal repression. Of course most of the KGEU chapters are firm and resolved to continue to fight back. Many of the KGEU chapters whose offices were forcefully closed down set up protest tents for sit-in in front of municipality buildings or brought big steel container boxes in courtyard of municipality buildings as a substitute for the union offices lost.
[During the police attack on the KGEU Gangwon Samcheok Chapter’s office on October 3, two people were injured by the police violence and hospitalized. One of them was Bro. LEE Sang Gyun, Chair of the KGEU Samcheok Chapter, who inhaled too much of fire-fighting dust, not struck with water cannons as wrote in previous news break. He recovered well but had to spend 6 days in a hospital. The other was a KGEU members’ wife, who was injured on her head causing a concussion of her brain. She also recovered well and could leave the hospital on the next day, but still diagnosed that she needs to be carefully watched.
The four KGEU members, who were injured at the struggle to defend the union office in Gwacheon on September 27, also recovered well. But one of them has still to go to hospital everyday to treat his back pain.]