Thousands march ahead of May Day in Seoul

["Ulhas Joglekar" <ulhasj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday 30 April 2000

Thousands march ahead of May Day in Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea: About 15,000 workers marched through downtown Seoul on
Saturday ahead of May Day, demanding a shorter work week and opposing the
sale of auto firms to foreign investors.
"Five-day work week," they chanted, picking up the slogan blared from
loudspeakers mounted on vans. "Let's crush foreign sales and protect our
right to survival."
The protest turned violent when about 200 workers and students, hurling
rocks and wielding sticks, clashed briefly with riot police. Witnesses said
at least three protesters were injured, one who was bleeding from the head
was taken to a hospital.
Several protesters were taken away by police in sporadic clashes that
followed, witnesses said.
Organizers said similar but small-scale May Day protests were held in about
a dozen other cities. Police said those protests in the countryside ended
peacefully.
The protesters in Seoul, who included some relatives of workers and some
college students, marched into the streets after a two-hour rally in front
of the railway station downtown.
Led by a traditional Korean farmers' band, the workers paraded 4 kilometers
(2.5 miles) along busy streets, carrying hundreds of red, yellow and blue
placards. Traffic was backed up for miles (kilometers).
Police stood a few meters (yards) apart along the center line of the
eight-lane boulevards and tried to keep the march orderly. Workers
distributed leaflets appealing for support but few pedestrians responded.
The protests were largely peaceful and there were no reports of clashes or
arrests.
The rally and march were organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade
Unions, a militant umbrella labor group which claims a membership of
500,000, many of them in the car and shipbuilding industries.
Another major labor group, the conservative Federation of Korean Trade
Unions, planned separate May Day rallies and marches in Seoul and elsewhere
on Monday.
Confederation officials said Saturday's protest was part of their plan to
organize a nationwide strike in late May. They vowed to organize more
protests in the coming weeks.
Workers demanded that their work week be cut from 44 hours to 40 hours,
without a cut in pay. They claimed that South Korea has the longest work
week of all industrialized countries.
They denounced plans to sell ailing Daewoo Motor Co. to a foreign investor.
General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor of the United States are reportedly the
front-runners in international bidding. A successful bidder will be chosen
by September.
Last week, French carmaker Renault SA took over another ailing South Korean
auto firm, Samsung Motors Inc., for $562 million, becoming the first foreign
car producer and operator in South Korea.
"No more leak of national wealth," protesters shouted, referring to the
Samsung-Renault deal, which they consider a giveaway. South Korean workers
fear mass layoffs under foreign ownership.
As the one-hour march reached a commercial district in the city center lined
with Burger King, KFC and several other American fast food restaurants, some
Daewoo workers shouted "Down with U.S." (AP)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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