Widespread violence in S. Korea over US FTA

The South Korean government launched a massive crackdown on protesters who wreaked havoc in major cities on Nov. 22 during rallies against a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States and proposed labor reforms. More than 73,000 farmers, workers and activists collided with riot police in 13 cities in one of the most violent protests seen in recent years. Although over 27,000 riot police forces were mobilized nationwide, they failed to prevent violent protests in some regions. Protesters tried to force their way into city halls and municipal government buildings in Chuncheon, Gwangju and Daejeon, armed with stones, steel pipes and bamboo canes. Activists in Daejeon, some hurling fire bombs amd smashing windows, set walls on fire while they tried to enter the city hall building. Some 1,000 farmers, laborers and college students engaged in a pitched battle with police when they tried to break into the municipal building in Gwangju, Jeolla Province. About 300 of them brandished wooden and bamboo sticks and hurled paving stones at the building, breaking 40 windows. They seized riot shields and helmets from police and set them on fire. In Chuncheon, the police had to use water canons and fire extinguishers to push back some 150 protesters who attempted to force their way into the Gangwon Provincial government compound. Protestors burnt funeral biers in protest against the trade pact and broke down the main gate of the provincial government building. The total property damage amounts to about $1 million. A total of 154 bamboo sticks, 105 boxes of alcoholic drinks and 624 stones were collected from the rallies in Seoul and 12 other regional cities, the police said. A total of 63 people were injured including 35 policemen, 21 protesters, one reporter and a Gwangju city official. About 30,000 protesters gathered in front of Seoul city hall on Nov. 25 following promises from protest leaders that more actions would follow the events of Nov. 22. Unlike the previous demonstrations, the Nov. 25 rally was peaceful and involved a minimal police presence. The anti-FTA alliance is calling for a halt to the FTA talks between Seoul and Washington, asserting that the deal will severely damage the livelihoods of farmers by enabling a flood of cheap US farm products. Despite the government's intensifying restraint, the alliance said that it will push for two more major demonstrations on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, as the two countries are set to open the fifth round of formal FTA talks next month, set to take place in Montana. Seoul and Washington kicked off the negotiations in June and have since made some headway but are unlikely to wrap up an agreement by the end of this year as originally hoped. An agreement would slash tariffs and other barriers on a wide range of goods and services from the two nations, which already do $72 billion worth of business a year. If successful, the pact would be the biggest for Washington since the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1993. The plan has drawn fierce resistance from South Korean labor, agriculture and social groups, as well as the film industry. Farmers have been among the most vocal in protesting any reduction in protections for agriculture, particularly rice. Unionized teachers also protested against government plans to implement a new teachers' assessment system. As the new system calls for stricter evaluation of teachers by colleagues, students and parents, the Education Worker's Union (KTU) argues that it would ruin personal relationships with students. With the union refusing to halt protests, the Education Minister and superintendents of nationwide schools have agreed to deal harshly with all participants in the collective strike action. A light sentence would be a salary cut or a demotion, while a heavy sentence could include suspension or dismissal. The radical Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU)–one of Korea's two umbrella unions–started off its seventh massive walkout on Nov. 22. A less-than-expected 58,000 members from the KCTU participated in the walkout. The KCTU demands that the government scrap labor bills that they claim would decrease job security and lower working conditions. The group wants the immediate implementation of the multiple union system and insists that the issue of paying full-time union officers should be left to individual companies. Police said they will not allow any future rallies organized by the Korea Alliance Against the Korea-US FTA, which led to the nationwide protests. Despite this, the coalition of about 300 civic groups plans more demonstrations in the coming weeks. National Police Agency commissioner-general Lee Taek-soon ordered the police to summon leaders of protest rallies in North and South Chungcheong, South Jeolla, South Gyeongsang and Gangwon where the violence occurred, requesting arrest warrants should they refuse to show up. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office ordered regional prosecution offices on Nov. 25 to thoroughly investigate and punish the leaders of the illegal demonstrations. "We have instructed all local offices to sternly punish those who organized or actively participated in [the Nov. 22] rallies," the prosecutors' office said. "We will also deal sternly with the general strike by the labor unions and the illegal collective action by the unionized teachers." The Education Ministry is currently seeking punishment against 2,727 teachers who are said to have participated in the protests. Many of those teachers are members of the KCTU or KTU. "We have confirmed that 1,952 teachers actually participated in a collective leave and we will take disciplinary measures as soon as we finish investigating the rest," the ministry said. Political parties also called for stricter punishment against protesters. Grand National Party leader Kang Jae-sup agreed. "Seeing yesterday's massive rallies as a declaration of war against the government, it is time to stamp out such protests once and for all." But the radical Democratic Labor Party (DLP) pointed out that the unrest was more the government's fault. "It is regretful to see that unnecessary violence occurred in some regions, but it is more the government's fault for pushing hasty negotiations," said DLP spokesman Park Yong-jin. Ahn Kyung-hwan, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission said that he was against extreme restraints on the freedom to protest. "The right to protest is one of the core rights of the democracy, and thus, the government must have more grounds to be able to restrict that right," he said in a radio interview.