Asian Pacific Coalition brings S. Korean strike into UCLA arena
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 17, 1997 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, February 18, 1997
CAMPAIGN:
Students are gathering signatures in petition to President KimBy
Hannah Miller
Daily Bruin Contributor
The videotaped images are striking  masses of protesters
with shaved heads and red headbands, pumping fists. Though half a
world away, they speak the same language as many of the audience
members in Kerckhoff 133.
Since Dec. 26, South Korea has been in the grip of a nationwide
general strike. And Korean-American student groups are bringing it
home to UCLA and the community.
Involving 740,000 workers in 1,983 trade unions, the strike was
called in response to a massive crackdown on union and political
organizing passed by the Korean National Assembly in a secret,
’emergency’ session.
In response, four student groups within the Asian Pacific
Coalition have been tabling in Koreatown, talking to Asian American
studies classes and gathering signatures on petitions to Korean
President Kim Young Sam.
Emcee Clark Roh opened a Feb. 12 forum on the subject by posing
the central question: "What do all these strikes on the other side
of the world have to do with us?" As he said, "… this is not just
something we in America can ignore."
As the forum sought to communicate, the strike has grown
enormous and explicitly political because of the intense threat
posed to unionization and free speech. "These new laws would
undermine the tactical power of unions," said Carol Song, a labor
activist recently returned from Korea.
The changes include bans on multi-unionization, sympathy
strikes, wildcat strikes, union participation in political
campaigns, even strikes on company premises.
The second major locus of change is the Agency for National
Security Planning (NSP), the former Korean Central Intelligence
Agency which "has served in the past as the government’s primary
tool for repression of human rights," according to the Korean
American Committee Against Dictatorial Law in South Korea.
The changes in NSP regulations allow for police investigation
under the blanket term ‘anti-state groups.’
"This is very dangerous. It allows politicians to make decisions
with much more social control," said Yong Jin Ha, an organizer with
the Korean Youth and Student Union.
One alarming point, Ha said, is the effect on Korean-American
activism. "A lot of people here have been active in reunification
or pro-democracy movements," he said. "They can’t go back or else
they’ll be arrested."
As Jung-Eun Son, a member of the Korean American United Students
for Education and Service (KAUSES) stressed in the panel
discussion, the upheaval in South Korea has local implications.
"This is important regardless of how we identify ourselves," she
said. "What happens in South Korea affects people directly or
indirectly elsewhere."
"The petition drives have been positive," reported fourth-year
Asian American studies student Julia Song. "A lot of people are
still pretty conservative, but we’ve gotten a lot of
signatures."
The student groups have been tabling the past two Saturdays at
the Korean market on the corner of 8th and Olympic. The same
coalition organized a Jan. 10 protest in front of the Korean
Consulate.
Among students, efforts have been met with some apathy,
commented Song. "When we speak in classes, (students) don’t ask a
lot of questions," she said. "People really feel they can’t do
much."
South Korea’s economic situation in many ways parallels that of
the United States. The last few years have seen widespread
corporate downsizing coupled with a trade deficit and political
pundits calling for ‘increased competitiveness.’
In a televised speech re-broadcast at the forum, President Kim
called for "a new trade policy of participation and cooperation," a
phrase that Korean labor leaders fear will translate into severe
restrictions on workers’ rights.
Complicating the situation is the revelation of the Han Bul
scandal. The second-largest steel company in the nation, Han Bul
recently went bankrupt, even after massive government subsidies.
"This goes to show that the government is not really looking at
‘competitiveness,’" Carol Song said. "The workers are really being
sacrificed."
According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Korean
competitiveness has increased by 11 percent annually during the
same period that wages have dropped by 8.3 percent.
On Feb. 18, the general strike will enter its fourth phase.
Local groups are planning a demonstration, possibly to be held at
the Korean Consulate.
