Search Results for: north korea kctu

Here is the least surprising news of the day:

When South Korea’s largest labor umbrella group called for an end to the alliance with the U.S. and conscription during weekend rallies before Aug. 15 National Liberation Day last year, some observers questioned what those demands have to do with improving workers’ rights.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) and police now suspect that the messages chanted in the Seoul streets might have come directly from Pyongyang and that it was orchestrated by regime sympathizers engaged in espionage activities here at its behest.

According to civic groups and other sources on Tuesday, NIS officials and police have been investigating allegations that some liberal activists, including party officials, helped promote anti-government activities after taking orders from North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party.

Over the past several weeks, the investigators have raided the homes and offices of the key suspects in Jeju, Jinju, Jeonju and Changwon.

It all began in July 2017 when a former high-ranking official of the Progressive Party allegedly met a North Korean agent in Siem Reap of Cambodia, where the South Korean was told to create a secret organization on Jeju Island and was informed how to communicate with North Korean officials.

It is alleged that the official later conspired with two other activists to organize a group, through which they helped stage anti-U.S. protests and supported certain election candidates. They are suspected of communicating with North Korean officials for more than five years. Taking control of “the Jeju 4.3 unification committee” under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the anti-U.S. protest organizer, suspending military exercises between Seoul and Washington and protesting the procurement of high tech weapons are among the orders they allegedly received from the North.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but to me this news is not surprising and according to the article the NIS began this investigation five years ago when President Moon was in power. However, only recently were they allowed to move forward with an official investigation. It is pretty clear that the Moon administration did not want to go after their own liberal supporters and the Yoon administration is going after them as part of their efforts to retaliate against North Korean provocations.

The KCTU did not mind when the Korean left was demanding the prosecution and jailing of former conservative Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, but don’t like it when their political leader Lee Jae-myung is being prosecuted. Ironically they are condemning President Yoon for the prosecution when during the last administration he was the chief prosecutor that put President Park in jail which they championed. So what you can take from all this is that they only want conservatives prosecuted:

Members of a major South Korean umbrella union rallied in downtown Seoul on Saturday to condemn the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, jamming traffic in the neighborhood.

Some 13,000 union members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country’s two major umbrella labor organizations, held multiple rallies in Daehangno, Saejongno and Jongno, in protest against “prosecution-backed dictatorship.”

During the rallies, the protestors said the country’s civil livelihood, democracy and labor fell to the worst conditions under the Yoon administration in less than one year of his presidency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, what is further hypocritical about the KCTU is that they are calling the Yoon administration a “dictatorship” while their union and the political left has been linked to North Korean spies. North Korea is a real dictatorship which the KCTU says nothing about.

It is pretty clear that the Yoon administration has declared war on the violent and pro-North Korean KCTU. Here is the latest front he has opened up on them:

Eradicating illegal practices at construction sites has been a central part of labor reform, one of the Yoon administration’s top three areas of reform along with education and pensions, the presidential office said.

Since late last year, the land ministry has run a designated team to respond to violence at construction sites while the police have operated a 200-day special crackdown period, it added.

The government’s hard-line stance comes as construction unions affiliated with the country’s two major umbrella labor organizations — the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions — have been accused of coercing employers to hire their union members for construction jobs.

“Militant labor unions with vested rights continue to overtly carry out illegal actions at construction sites, such as demanding money and goods, forcing hiring and obstructing construction,” Yoon said during the Cabinet meeting.

“As a result, workers are losing their jobs and construction is being poorly done. The damage is being passed on to the people, with delays in the opening of new elementary schools and move-ins to new apartments,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if the KCTU loses its government subsidies and has to give up their extortion practices this is going to greatly hinder them financially. On top of that the KCTU is being investigated for their part in a North Korea spy ring by the government.

A ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O has a great article about the investigation into North Korean spies in South Korea. What kind of mental illness must you have if you think the Kim regime is a better form of government than what the ROK has?:

Similarly, the underground organization “HGH” (ㅎㄱㅎ) (presumed to be HanGilHoe or One Way Committee) in Jeju Province was created after North Korean agent Kim Myung-sung met with another spy suspect Mr. Kang since 2017 in Cambodia. (1:47)   It was revealed that while Kang was in Cambodia, he stayed at the same residence in Siem Riep as North Korean agents—Kim Myung-sung and 4 other agents stayed for 2 nights and 3 days, pledging loyalty to the Kim regime, becoming Workers’ Party members with a ceremony, and receiving spy training.  The duration of 2 nights and 3 days was relatively short, because in the past, the similar process occurred in North Korea, rather than a third country, and it took longer due to the complexity of the decryption method, among other reasons.

Kang is a former chairman of the Jeju Island branch of the Progressive Party (진보당의 제주도당), which was formerly the United Progressive Party, which was outlawed by the Constitutional Court.  Its leader Lee Suk-ki went to prison more than once for violating the National Security Law, inciting insurrection, and embezzlement.  Lee Suk-ki was released early from prison by Rho Moo-hyun in 2003 and then again by Moon Jae-in in 2021.

Kang recruited two people—a  Jeju labor official and a “peasants’ activist” (농민운동) to organize HGH.  In October 2021, North Korea ordered HGH to conduct activities calling for suspending ROK-U.S. combined military exercises, dismantling ROK-US-Japan military cooperation, and opposing the import of advanced weapons (F-35) from the U.S. by mobilizing groups, such as the Progressive Party’s Jeju branch (진보당 제주도당), KCTU Jeju Branch’s April 3 Unification Committee (4·3통일위원회), and the Jeju Branch of the National Federation of Peasants (전국농민회 제주도연맹).

The Cultural Exchange Bureau agent instructed spy suspects to form underground organizations in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, and Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, wage an anti-government struggle in solidarity with “progressive candlelight forces,” and propagandize the Juche ideology and the greatness of North Korea’s “State Affairs Chairman Kim Jong Un.”

After their establishment, these underground organizations were operating under Kim Myung-sung’s orders of “struggle against the U.S.” “infiltrate and seize power in the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and expand their power” and “denounce Yoon Suk-yeol,” among others. 

East Asia Research

You can read much more at the link, but this should all serve as a reminder of the possible motivations of the anti-USFK and ROK government protesters especially if they are affiliated with the KCTU.

I don’t think this is a good analogy to compare truckers trying to get higher wages with the mafia state in North Korea:

President Yoon Suk-yeol has likened the ongoing truckers strike to North Korea’s nuclear threats, saying the government should respond sternly with principles like it does to protect the people from Pyongyang’s repeated actions of menace.

“If we had pursued (consistent) North Korea policies based on the principle of nuclear intolerance, we wouldn’t be facing North Korea’s nuclear threat as we do now,” he was quoted as saying by multiple officials, according to Yonhap News Agency on Monday.

“The vicious cycle will repeat if we give in to (their) illegal activities and violence,” he said, stressing union leadership should be sternly punished for blocking members from returning to work.

Korea Herald

What I can agree with is that the KCTU based on their past activities is sympathetic to the North Korean regime:

His party, the People Power Party, went further, claiming the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the umbrella group initiating the ongoing strike, “represents the interest of the North Korean regime.”

Park Jung-ha, a senior spokesperson of the People Power Party, accused the KCTU of taking orders from North Korea to initiate anti-US and anti-government struggles, denouncing that it should change its name to “Minrochong,” a North Korean way of referring to Minnochong, by which the KCTU is known in Korean.

Here is what the truckers are protesting about:

The truckers union has been on a general strike since Nov. 24, saying the government has failed to keep up its end of the bargain to continue the safe trucking freight rate system that both sides had agreed on in June to end an eight-day strike at the time. The safe trucking freight rate system is a measure that guarantees minimum cargo rates for truck drivers to prevent dangerous driving and overwork. It also imposes fines on shippers who pay less than the minimum rate. It was introduced as a three-year system in 2020 and expires at the end of this year.

I am supportive of higher pay for truck drivers, however what I don’t support is unions threatening and assaulting other truck drivers to prevent them from going to work.

The KCTU might as well as just say they get their marching orders from Pyongyang:

 Representatives of South Korea’s largest trade unions are warning that Ulchi Freedom Shield, the largest military exercise by the U.S. and South Korea in five years, runs counter to their members’ interests.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions together claim more than 2 million members working in government, schools, public transportation and the automotive and food industries.

Their street demonstrations against the large-scale drills have been frequent sights outside the presidential office in Seoul and U.S. bases like Camp Humphreys since the start of Ulchi Freedom Shield on Aug. 22.

“If a war breaks out, those who will suffer from the war are our people: workers and laborers,” Lee Jihyun, spokeswoman for the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I find it interesting that not once has the KCTU held a major rally to protest North Korea’s various provocations, missile launches, or nuclear tests. However the ROK holds defensive drills with the U.S. after suspending them for five years for nothing in return and they have a problem with that.

This is yet another example of how empowered the anti-American left currently is in South Korea:

Korean singers on Saturday boycotted a government-backed concert for United States Forces Korea troops after workers and netizens revived a bitter episode involving the American military.

The municipal government of Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province organized the concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is stationed in the city.

USFK commander Vincent Brooks, the 8th U.S. Army commanding general Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, 50 officers and 400 soldiers as well as more than 3,000 civilians attended the free concert at the Uijeongbu Sports Complex.

But the musicians invited ― including soloist Insooni, K-pop bands EXID, Oh My Girl, Sweet Sorrow, punk band Crying Nut and rapper SanE ― neither showed up nor performed.

Insooni, 61, whose father was an African-American USFK soldier, told the audience at the start of the concert that she would not perform her three songs.

Shorty after this, the audience was told that all planned performances had been cancelled, causing many people to leave.

The concert, scheduled for three-and-a-half hours, was cut short by an hour, and went ahead with gigs by the 8th Army Band, the city orchestra and dancing troupe, a gukak (Korean traditional music) band and a taekwondo demonstration.

The boycott stems from a tragedy in 2002 when a 2nd Infantry unit tank accidentally ran over and killed two female middle school students on a street in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Even though the unit commander apologized and compensation was paid, two soldiers were found not guilty of killing the students because a U.S. military court at Camp Casey in Dongducheon ruled their deaths were an accident.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but for those that have not, I highly recommend reading my entire prior posting on the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident that provides the context of what happened:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2008/06/gi-flashback-2002-armored-vehicle-accident/

The threats against these groups must have been very serious considering that Insooni pulled out of the concert and her father was a USFK servicemember and grew up around US military bases in Korea.  So who was behind the threats?  None other than the anti-US Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU):

Hours before the event, 10 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ northern Gyeonggi branch also demonstrated against the city government in front of the complex.

A confederation spokesperson said, “Forcing students to congratulate USFK’s establishment with celebrities goes against our educational ethics,” according to the Chosun Ilbo.

So what ethics does the KCTU preach then?  The KCTU was linked to a massive North Korea spy scandal a decade ago and were key members in the violent anti-US protests against the 2005 Camp Humphreys expansion.

The KCTU also played a key role in the violent 2008 anti-US beef protests.  Yes you heard that right these thugs from the KCTU launched violent protests against US hamburgers and steaks being sold in South Korea.

US beef protestors beat a Korean riot policeman in 2008.

10 years of conservative rule had forced the KCTU and other anti-US groups to lower their profile after the anti-US beef protests since the government took action against them and put their leaders in jail.  With the new Moon Jae-in administration in charge, it is clear that these leftist agitators feel they have free reign to once again conduct aggressive anti-US activities just like what we just saw happen in Uijongbu.  Expect more of this to happen in the coming months and years.

In the least surprising news of the day, the South Korean government has confirmed that leftist agitators were behind the violent protest that saw the ROK Prime Minister detained for six hours and pelted with eggs last week:

Debate is escalating over the violent protest during the prime minister’s visit to the potential site for a U.S. advanced missile system last week, with the ruling camp condemning the incident as a criminal act of violence and the opposition accusing the government of politicizing it.

The Saenuri Party demanded firm punishment against the violent protesters who they said came from other neighborhoods to incite illegal activities. The opposition parties in turn rebuked the government for cracking down on a legitimate protest.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was pelted with eggs and water bottles during his visit on Friday to Seongju county, the southern rural town where the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense artillery unit will be deployed. The prime minister was also blocked for more than six hours by angry protesters.

Korea National Police Agency chief Kang Shin-myung said Monday that he received a report on evidence linking the violence to outside protestors. He said the authorities would determine whether there were any illegal activities and how far the out-of-town activists were involved in the incident.

“Violent activities staged by some protesters should be brought to justice,” said the Saenuri Party’s floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk. “Granting the residents the right to express their opinion is one thing, but allowing the outsiders to exercise violence is another,” he said.

The conservative party’s whip praised the Seongju residents for staying away from “outsider protesters,” many of whom, he claimed, consisted of antigovernment leftist activists. He urged the residents to prevent the activists from meddling in protests.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but via a reader tip comes this Reddit posting that translates a Donga-Ilbo article that states that six of the eight anti-THAAD protest leaders are from outside of the village of Seongju where the THAAD battery will be stationed:

Out of eight high ranking officials who are coordinating the protests against THAAD installation at Seongju, only two were Seongju residents, reports Channel-A News.

The rest were made up of well known ‘professional protestors’ who make their living protesting against South Korean government policies, who had no ties to the town of Seongju. This new organization met with the opposition Democratic Party for 4 hours, and asked the opposition party to intervene and block the THAAD installation, right to the end. One of the leaders in the group was a man who was in charge of the Mad Cow protests in 2008, arrested and served some time for organizing violent protests. Included in the same group are two leaders who were responsible for anti US protests 10 years ago, at Pyeongtek, when they violently tried to oppose the construction of new US military base in the area with homemade weapons. They are already wrapping headbands around their heads, and promises to “fight to the end” to stop the THAAD.

The leftist agitators in question include the the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea.  Both groups are highly involved in anti-government and anti-US movements in South Korea.  Another usual suspect, the Catholic Church of Korea is getting involved in the anti-THAAD movement as well by holding a protest outside of Camp Carroll.

For those unfamiliar with the Catholic Church in Korea it has a long history of anti-government protests stretching back to the authoritarian era of the South Korean government.  Now with full democracy in place the Catholic Church still protests conservative governments and anti-US causes.  For example here is the Catholic Church protesting during the 2008 US beef riots:

Just like the THAAD controversy the US beef riots were based on proven lies spread by the Korean left and their media allies:

MBC apologized to viewers on Tuesday for misleading them with misinterpretations and exaggerations about the risks of mad cow disease in the current affairs program PD Diary. It had been 106 days since PD Diary aired the first report on April 29 on the risks of mad cow disease that drove the entire country into hysteria. The apology followed an order by the Korea Communications Standards Commission on July 16. Following its main newscast that night, MBC showed the text of the KCSC order on air and read aloud its content, telling viewers that it apologized from the bottom of its heart.

MBC ignored a decision by the Press Arbitration Commission on May 19 ordering PD Diary to air a correction. Throughout July, the broadcaster rejected demands by prosecutors summoning program officials and to hand over transcripts and other materials. It also initially ignored the KCSC order on July 16 to issue an apology. It even ignored a ruling by a court of law on July 31 to air a correction saying the key points raised by PD Diary were false. At an internal meeting, MBC officials agreed not to admit any mistakes and to drag their heels for as long as possible. Now, the network probably decided to issue an apology because it became afraid of the treatment it would receive from the public, who have realized the truth about the deliberate exaggeration and distortion of facts by PD Diary.

But the distortions by MBC are not restricted to PD Diary. Since the first day PD Diary aired its report on mad cow disease, MBC News Desk, the main 9 p.m. newscast, broadcast reports exaggerating the fear of mad cow disease for three straight days, allocating 13 out of a total 25 items to that subject. The program regularly broadcast scenes of downer cows that had been aired by PD Diary, bombarding viewers minds with the notion that U.S. beef equals mad cow disease. The anchors made comments voicing satisfaction with the fear they had spread, saying young students were hitting the streets to lambaste and mock the government over the beef issue and that it had been a long time since we saw students this age protesting. The hysteria also poured through the airwaves on morning shows geared toward housewives, entertainment shows and radio programs.

Housewives and young students who saw these broadcasts were scared out of their minds and took to the streets to protest. Junior highschool girls wept that they were too young to die, and some even called the agriculture ministers office and cried, saying they were too afraid to eat even instant noodles or use sanitary napkins if U.S. beef imports resumed. Parents took their children to see doctors after they developed beef phobia or had problems sleeping due to fears of contracting the human form of mad cow disease.  [Chosun Ilbo]

Interestingly who we haven’t seen shown up yet in Seongju is quite possibly the most well known anti-US activist and Catholic priest, Father Mun Jeong-hyeon:

It seems like he has been keeping a low profile ever since his 2013 protesting of the ROK Navy base on Jeju island that he and other protesters claimed was actually going to be used by the US Navy.  Another group that I have not seen in Seongju yet is the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.  This long time anti-US group has protested in Seoul before against the deployment of the THAAD battery, but it overall has not been a major issue for them.  I do expect that to change since the THAAD issue has now become much larger in Korea.

At this point is pretty much a certainty that violent protests will be used to stop the THAAD battery especially with a Korean presidential election looming next year.  If Father Mun and the Korean Confederation of Trade Union thugs along with the other usual suspects show up at Seongju to block access to the base for the arrival of the THAAD equipment than expect things to get ugly.

That is why if USFK planners were smart they would install the THAAD battery during the winter time and not during the summer protest season.  The anti-US movement will not be able to draw huge crowds to violently protest in cold weather.  Convoying in the equipment late on a cold winter night should mitigate any attempts to block access to the ROK base.  Once the THAAD battery is deployed and the presidential election is over, I expect this issue to fade away just like the Camp Humphreys issue back in 2005 which no one cares about today.

Once again due to Korean media lies we have mad cow 2.0 happening over the THAAD deployment to South Korea.  Fortunately this is happening in a rural area of Korea and not Seoul where the Korean left would be able to mobilize huge crowds more easily.  We will see what happens when the usual suspects such as the KCTU will likely get involved in this.  I would not be surprised if the Korean left tries to makes this look like Camp Humphreys back in 2005 to get this battery installed in Seongju.  If the US military was smart they would wait until after the summer protest season to deploy this battery to Korea.  The Korean left will not be able to mobilize huge crowds in the freezing cold of January in rural Korea:

An angry mob of Seongju residents besieged the prime minister for more than six hours on Friday during his visit to the southeastern rural town to explain the government’s recent decision to place a controversial U.S.-led missile defense system in their neighborhood.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, accompanied by Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo and Vice Minister of Interior Kim Sung-lyul, traveled to Seongju, North Gyeongsang, in the morning to meet with residents after Seongsan-ri of Seongju, a village with about 2,800 people, was selected Wednesday as the site to host the U.S. Forces Korea’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system.

After arriving in Seongju by a helicopter, they met with North Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kwan-yong and visited the artillery base in Seongsan-ri. A Korean Air Force artillery unit currently stationed there will be relocated and the U.S. military will install the Thaad system by the end of next year.

Hwang then arrived at the Seongju County Office and met with Kim Hang-gon, head of the county, who has been on a hunger strike in protest. About 3,000 angry residents were waiting for Hwang and pelted him with eggs and poured water on him.

The quiet farming town of Seongju, with a population of about 45,000, has become extremely volatile since residents fear the deployment for security and health concerns. North Korea warned of a physical response to the Thaad base, while concerns were also raised that the electromagnetic waves emitted from the Thaad radar are harmful to humans. The government said the radar poses no harm to humans outside of its 100-meter (328-foot) radius.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but as I have been saying repeatedly the safe keep out zones for the THAAD radar are well known, but leftists in the Korean media continue to publish articles claiming THAAD is going to make people sick.  What seems lost to these people is that US soldiers work around this radar every day, so using their logic US soldiers must have some magical immunity to these scary electromagnetic waves that can some how magically make only Koreans sick.

Is THAAD the new Fan Death of Korea?