Emergency Demonstration for South Korean rail workers, San Francisco, Dec 27 2013

Emergency Demonstration for South Korean rail workers, San Francisco, Dec 27 2013

Published on Dec 29, 2013
On December 22nd, the South Korean government under right-wing President Park Geun-hye attacked the offices of the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) with 4,600 police in an attempt to break the longest rail strike in South Korean history. The strike was started in an attempt to stop the government from privatizing the rail system.

120 unionists were arrested in the illegal raid, during which police used pepper spray and fired tear gas into the union offices. More than 8,000 KORAIL workers have been suspended from their jobs. The government seeks to imprison the rail union leaders, and claimed that they were hiding out in the KCTU building, even though none of them were found there during the raid.

Following the attack, an emergency demonstration was called by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee at the South Korean Consulate in San Francisco on December 27th in conjunction with demonstrations in other cities around the world, including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Istanbul, Paris and Sao Paulo.

The KCTU announced a General Strike on December 28th. Although it is not calling for an all-out rail strike, it has announced additional nationwide general strikes on January 9th and 16th.