Behind South Korea's
"economic miracle"
THE OLYMPIC GAMES were anything but non-political. With massive spending, the dictatorship of generals carefully disguised in civilian clothing sought to present a picture of the country to international public opinion that is in stark contrast to the reality. Behind its impressive economic figures are records of a different sort.
T HE COLLAPSE of the economic
and social structure in the coun tryside drives nearly half a million people a year into the cities and industrial centers. Working hours are the longest in the world - 11 hours per shift and 54 hours a week are the norm. Wages are low. According to the government's own data, they meet only 60% of wage earners' needs.
The on-the-job accident rate is the highest in the world. For example, in 1987 alone, 142,500 people suffered injuries at work. Of these, 1,771 died, and 22,500 were crippled. Only the rudiments of a social security system exist. According to a study published in 1988, the capital Seoul is the most polluted city in the world. Japa-
НАСНЕЙТ nese firms move production sites there solely to escape Japan's stricter environmental protection laws. An opposition movement of massive proportions
There can be no question of "peace and democratization" as long as the picture is dominated by a military machine of 620,000 men, 42,000 US soldiers in the country, generals in civilian clothes in the government, an extensive network of secret services, a police designed for civil war, as well as many legal and de facto limitations of democratic liberties and civil rights.
In the name of anti-Communism and defending national security, the regime in the southern half of the divided peninsula is trying, now as before, to brand any opposition movement as North Korean subversion and on that basis suppress it.
But the wind has shifted. The majority of the 40 million people in South Korea are no longer ready to accept humiliating conditions in the name of absolute priority for export and for "the benefit of firm and fatherland."
Owing to the pressure of an opposition movement grown to massive proportions, the all-powerful president had to be directly elected. But the disunity of the big bourgeois opposition parties left Roh Tae Woh, a military man, in power.
In the March 1988 parliamentary election, the opposition parties won an absolute majority. But the president's party still formed the government, even though it got only 33%. Roh's predecessor, his crony and foster father, Chun Do Hwan, who held
SOUTH KOREA power following the Kwangju massacre of 1980, is finding himself the focus of growing demands from democratic public opinion that those responsible for the repression and corruption during his dictatorship be brought to book and punished.
A new constitution has been adopted, but the reforms have generally remained dead letter. In an obvious maneuver, Chun Do Hwan publicly repented and entered a monastery.
The growing pressure for political democracy is not just coming "from below." The indications are increasing that in bourgeois circles as well there is an intense discussion about reorientation. Political and economic concessions are necessary in order to keep the climate from heating up any more. The rulers, however, fear the dangers involved in doing this. Any retreat would encourage the new workers' and trade-union movement that has emerged as a massive force on the scene since the strike wave of 1987.
Moreover, the South Korean "economic miracle" and its advances in the export market are based on an extreme exploitation of labor. On the other hand, a relaxation of the hysterical anti-Communism seems necessary for economic reasons. Korean monopoly capital - the "Chaebols" — is narrowly focused on export and extremely dependent on the market and business cycles in the US and Japan. Therefore, since Korean big capitalists have run into problems and limitations on the traditional markets, they have undertaken a series of initiatives in order to widen their export market and to diversify.
Consolidating the country's partition
For example, more than 97% of South Korean exports to the US are industrial goods, of which about a third are machinery, vehicles and equipment. At the same time, almost 43% of its imports from the US consist of raw materials and foodstuffs, which have severely harmed the local rice farmers. The US trade deficit with Korea was probably about $13 billion in 1987. South Korea's trade surplus with the US is supposed to be reduced to a maximum of $5 billion, after being almost $10 billion at the end of 1987.
Trade with the EEC and Japan is still showing only slow growth. In the meantime, negotiations and economic accords with the Comecon countries are on the rise. An agreement was recently signed for setting up a Korean electrical appliances factory in Hungary. To a large extent, thus, the Roh regime's new "Northern policy, "its increasing readiness for negotiations with the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, is also dictated by economic considerations.
A "normalization" of relations, correponding to the type of relations that exist a o etween West and East Germany, would
International Viewpoint #156 • February 6, 1989
SOUTH KOREA benefit the rulers in South Korea in two respects. On the one hand, it facilitates a wider opening to the noncapitalist countries, especially the opening of economic relations. On the other, the regime can relate in a "positive" way to the demands of students and broader layers of the population for steps toward national reunification.
In this, the South Korean big bourgeoisie is of course not even dreaming of a reunification in which it would achieve its economic and power interests. Its basic principle — since a violent reunification under capitalism proved impossible in the Korean war — is to consolidate the partition of the country. This has also long been a pillar of US policy in Asia, which the Seoul regime generally accepts.
An opening to the non-capitalist contries and North Korea, with which even post and telephone communications are still impossible, threatens, however, to undermine anti-Communism as a state doctrine. And this doctrine has been used up until now to justify almost every repressive
President Roh Tae Woo tional Federation of Free Trade Unions since 1948.
THE RISE of a militant workers' movement in
Washington's east Asian anti-Communist fortresses is an important new factor in the world relationship of forces.
Along with other West German unionists, Hermann
Dirkes attended an international conference held by the
Korean union movement in the fall. He wrote the following report on the South Korean class-struggle unions for the January 5 issue of Sozialistische Zeitung, the paper of the United Socialist Party (VSP) in which
Fourth Internationalists participate.
OREAN WORKERS are taking advantage of the new relationship of forces that arose in the southern part of the divided country after the massive strike wave of the summer of 1987. The most important gain of the workers' struggles in South Korea is undoubtedly the construction of new, independent trade unions at the factory and regional levels.
The new trade-union movement, known in Korean as Minju No Jo, of course still suffers from many political and organizational infantile disorders. But it has the potential to lead a deepgoing transformation of Korean society. Throughout the country, the new trade unions are trying to win recognition. The opposition they face comes from the scab official union federation, the
FKTU, as well as from the capitalists and the military regime.
This was the basic message gotten by the trade-unionists from 14 countries and territories who were able to attend an international conference of the new Korean trade- union movement.
In the framework of the conference program, we were able to visit factory locals,
20 plants, union officials, rallies and coordinating meetings in all South Korea's industrial regions.
• Seoul-Inchon, where 10 million people, a fourth of South Korea's population, is concentrated.
• Ulsan, the center of the giant mixed trust Hyundai.
• Kwangju, where the crushed uprising of 1980 was centered.
• Masan-Changwon, the notorious freetrade zone in the south.
Between July and September, the number of strikes in South Korea rose to 3,372. On the average, over the last ten years there been about 200 strikes annually. While raising demands for higher wages, better working conditions and respect for human dignity, most of the strikes have sought to win recognition for genuine trade unions. The new Korean unions insist on the adjectives "genuine" or "democratic" in order to distinguish themselves from the official scab unions. By 1988, 4,729 new factory locals were established, 74% of all the existing ones.
The official union confederation, the FKTU, of which 200 leading functionaries are also leading members of President Roh's government party and which on the factory level is totally in the management's pocket, has been a member of the Interna-
The suppression of independent unions and workers' parties has been a feature of the Republic of Korea since its founding, under the archreactionary Syngman Rhee, as well as the successive regimes of generals Park and Chun and today under Roh. Demonstrations have been, and continue to be, broken up with tear gas and clubs. Strikers and their supporters are arrested and sentenced to prison terms. People continue to be killed and badly wounded. Even torture has not yet disappeared.
### Labor law restricts workers' right to organize
The spring 1988 presidential and parliamentary elections seem to have relaxed the situation somewhat. The Roh regime is trying to put up a democratic facade and, to a certain extent, tolerates political demonstrations. Even the customary local police attacks on strikers seem to have been been reduced a bit. After the Olympic Games, it is not certain how long this situation will last. In any case, the exploitation of the workers is being maintained by many other repressive measures
The labor law in force — which underwent a cosmetic reform in November 1987 - still contains many provisions that se verely restrict the right to organize and to undertake collective action. For example, only the formation of factory unions is permitted, and only one per factory. (Article 3 of the labor code.) Attempts to form unions worthy of the name run into massive resistance from the bosses. One of their customary countermeasures is to form scab unions with a handful of "company loyalists" or workers that they pay off. Then, the necessary official recognition of the real union is as good as ruled out. Various other antiunion methods are used:
• Political firings, disciplinary measures, intimidation and blacklists.
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The new trade-union movement
Sinae Electronics strike
ON SEPTEMBER 13, 1988, a section of the workers at the Sinae Electron-
Ics Company tried to organize a union. The factory has 350 workers, 280 of whom are women, and it makes car stereos
• Conscription into the army. A period of at least five-years work in an arms factory is established as the equivalent of three years military service. Since, in the name of "national security," any action by the workforce is banned in plants that are
SOUTH KOREA classed as belonging to defense industry, As in many places in South Korea, new workers have to sign undated any attempt by the workers to organize resignations. Work takes place under military discipline. The workplaces, themselves independently runs up against cafeterias, follets and accommodations (housing a large part of the workparticularly hard resistance from the ers) are under video-camera surveillance. Every morning, the workers reactionaries. have to take part in a religious service before starting work
In June 1987, the Ministry of Labor pub- The factory manager, a certain Chung JIn-long, whose father is a welllished a set of "guidelines" for "dealing known preacher, preaches the sermon himself, admonishing the workers with industrial conflicts in important de- to obey his orders without hesitation. Moreover, he expects to be ad fense industries." Among the 72 companies listed were the following: the Ton II Co. The workday starts between 7:50 and 8:30, with the unpald time spent
In the "teligious service." The lunch break is 40 minutes, and in the morn: (an armaments factory controlled by the internationally notorious cult leader Sun Ing and afternoon there is a 10-minute break. Women are obliged to work Myung Moon); Hyundai Precision Engi- 100 hours overtime a month on the average; men, 140, neering in the Masan-Changwon free zone; Women 8 wages are 5,100 Won (about $7.50) a day (roughly 153,000 the Daehan shipbuilder and the Daewoo Won, about $232, a month, while men get 180,000 ($263). There Is a yearPrecision Co. in Pusan; the Daeheung ma- ly bonus of 220 percent of the basic wage of 115,000 Won (about $167). chine factory in Inchon; and Samyang Met- For overtime, the bosses pay only the base wage, without the legalal in Asan. All these factories play an important role in the workers' movement On-the-job safety is unknown in production, The shops are constantly in their respective regions. full of lead smoke, so that many workers vomil.
After the setting up of the factory union, which only 103 women and seven men joined, the bosses tried to break It by every means, After the Banning of union political first concessions concerning wages, working time and conditions, the activity factory was closed the next day for 48 hours. When the union members staged • sit-down strike against this, the unorganized workers were
Samgong Products in Inchon is also classified as a "defense industry." It makes gas On October 5, the union members were stopped from going into the fac masks for riot police. The same goes for tory. Once again there was a strike. Workers were fired for political reaSamyang Industries, which makes tear gas. sons. After new negotiations, the management reorganized the Even the National Plastic Company, whose workforce, Those who had participated in the strike were Isolated in one main line is household goods, was included in the category of "defense industry" be- On October 9, some 95% of the organized workers voted for a new cause it makes the plastic parts of tear gas strike. A secretary of the official metalworkers union led a meeting with grenades. the unorganized and the management, in which he slandered the strikers
• Banning recognized unions that engage as Communista. On October 18, the leaders of the factory union were in political activity. (Article 12 of the labor fired without notice. When these unions tried to enter the factory, they were prevented from doing so by Ku Sa Dae thugs organized by the "un-
• Stalling in the recognition process. Won Mee Koung, the chair of the factory The following day, there were violent altacks by the goons. Alter about union at Se Chung Products, a ceramics 70 organized workers complained to the metalworkers union, they tried manufacturer, told us: "First the documents to go back Into the plant. But they were met there by the Ku Sa Dae, who and signatures were stolen from us by a threw bricks and sand mixed with chill pepper at them. The rlot police Ingroup of thugs in the factory. Later, the re- tervened. Twenty women workers were serlously Injured. A tradegional Labor Ministry claimed that they unionist lost his right eye, After that, the woren tried to mobllize support had never received the application." In the region. They visited all the unions In the district.
• The existing labor code (Article 12) On October 21, at 7:00 pm, a Joint demonstration was held. Again the bans any form of solidarity with workforc- pollce Intervened, beating people brutally. Many were serlously injured es involved in struggles. Even church aid On October 22, the strikers again mobilized the public for a demonstraagencies, such as the Industrial Mission, tion and collected money for the strike fund. However, since the police are in principle not supposed to "interfere." sealed off the rally site, the action had to be held outside the district. Many people are arrested and jailed under The support committee for the women a struggle at Sinae Electronics the pretext of "interference of a third par- has asked for solldarity messages be sent to the following address: Park ty." In a meeting with the trade-union re- Jong-Suk, 821 Kuro Dong, Juro Ku, Seoul, Korea. * gional coordinating committee in Inchon, we were able to see how a Samyang Metal unionist, who had just spent three months in prison, was greeted. In July 1987, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison solely on the accusation of "interference by a third party." Numerous solidarity actions forced his early release.
• In cases of industrial actions (go-slows, groups of workers going to the toilet at the same time, factory assemblies and strikes), the management may order ruthless lockouts. Article 17 of the labor code dressed as "father." requred supplement of 50%. forced to work through the night. lon secretary," Le Ki-bong explicitly permits lockouts.
• More and more, managements fake factory closures in order to force workers back to work and to break up the new unions. The threat of factory closures is ever present. Some foreign firms, such as Data Control, have in fact already withdrawn from South Korea. The Flair Fashion company, a subsidiary of the West German textile firm Adler, is in the process of doing this. It is opening up plants in Sri Lanka and Peking, after it failed to prevent the setting up of a new textile workers' union in its Iri factory, where there were 1,500 workers.
Korean firms also are increasingly turning toward other countries. But up until now most of the projected factory closings have been ruses. As soon as they managed to choke off the new factory unions, in many cases the plants have been reopened. 21
• Use of commando forces. Private terror
International Viewpoint #156 • February 6, 1989
SOUTH KOREA groups have been employed more frequently in labor struggles in the recent period, inasmuch as the police have been held back The formation of these groups, which call themselves "Ku Sa Dae" (roughly, "Save the Company commando groups") follows the same pattern everywhere. Backward members of the workforce but also people from outside the plants (unemployed, former cops and secret-service men) are hired by the management, boozed up and set loose on strikers. Particularly women workers are subjected to ruthless brutality.
At the end of October, 96 trade-union unionists were in prison. They included the chair of the Seoul subway workers' union, as well as the chair of the Hyundai Engine factory union, Kwon Yong-mok.
Despite this repression, the new workers' movement is growing in South Korea. It is young as a political force. In the South Korean factories, there is hardly a single old worker. Many workers, especially women, are under 20. Job security unheard of in most plants
This is scarcely surprising. Only younger people can take a minimum 11-hour work-day, with only a few days vacation a year.
Job security, to say nothing of working conditions fit for human beings, is still a foreign word in most plants. We were able to inspect chemical, metallurgical and wood-manufacturing plants that would be closed immediately in this country. Milling machine operators worked without protection, exposed to metal dust. Punch and other presses were not equipped with minimal safety devices. In the final stage in the production of cooking pots, the women workers stood continuously over rinsing tubs and breathed in solvents. Sharp-edged and jagged pieces of metal lay around. Production shops were unbearably noisy, and were either drafty or unventilated.
Many workers have only two free days a month, quite a few work every day. In the Sephoong lumber company in Kunsan, a 76 hour workweek is the rule.
The wages are as low as the workday is long. And the lowest waged workers are mainly women. Even when women do the same work as men, they get substantially
On the other hand, productivity and company profits have exploded to such an extent that the contradiction is becoming increasingly untenable.
Over the last decade recurring student mobilizations have taken the lead in the movement, and often stood alone. But today, an awakening working class, which has often lost its fear and respect of the patriarchal bosses and state apparatus, is joining in. While the democratic unions are still young and generally still organizationally weak, they have arisen in struggle. That gives them a certain strength that is i often lacking in our unions.
For example, we were astonished to be able to go into factories and production shops without having to ask the management first. When we mentioned this to a fellow unionist in a Seoul factory, he angraphically: "If the management prevented the union from bringing in visitors, the union would also turn away the management's visitors.'
Being an officer in a Korean union brings no advantages. The repression comes down on them most directly and most severely. We did not see any factory where there had not been firings, arrests, arbitrary factory
For other forms of
The great majority of the trade-unionists we met and talked to were clear about the fact that their struggle goes far beyond questions of wages, working hours and other factory demands. The average wage increase of 13.5% won has, moreover, already been wiped out by price rises. The feeling is widespread many of their problems are the result of the political domination of Korea by foreign powers, especially the United States, and economic domination by foreign firms.
In Hyundai, the Japanese company Mitsubishi is deeply involved; in Daewoo, the US company General Motors (Opel in West Germany). West German concerns, such as Adler Textil, C&A and Peek & Cloppenburg, extract huge profits from the exploitation of Korean textile dressmakers
The new unions are fighting not only for better working conditions. They want to change the entire society, and they know that they have to take the leading role in accomplishing this. They expect no gains from the continuing existence of capitalism. And they insist that their struggle is not separate from that of the entire Korean people for democracy, independence and
Discussions inside the trade-union movement
The most important issues being discussed today in the new trade-union move-
1. How can the organizational problems at the factory level be overcome, and how can the unity of the workers' movement in entire country be restored
2. What sort of relationship should there be to the state-controlled confederation, the FKTU, today and in the future?
On the first question is there is a broad consensus today. It involves drawing the lessons of the previous struggles, consolidating internal democracy and developing a systematic educational program for the mass of members, as well as building a leadership, in order to achieve greater unity
In this connection, the campaign that has been going on since June for reform of the labor code is playing a crucial role. The fight for revising the labor laws can be understood as an effort to take advantage of the present political situation, in which all the repressive aspects of the dictatorship are being challenged. Since the presentation of the new draft labor law at an open hearing of the trade unions, numerous actions, demonstrations and rallies have developed in in the individual factories, up to and including converging regional marches and a national mass petition campaign.
### Independent union movement must be built
The movement's growing political and organizational unity is reflected in the emergence of inter-enterprise alliances. At the moment, there are eight territorial democratic union confederations, that is, regional union councils, four nationwide confederations in specific industries and three individual territorial unions
The three territorial unions are the Chungye Textile Workers' Union, the Seoul Shoe Industry Workers' Union, and the Seoul Printers' Union.
The four industrial unions are: the National Confederation of Hospital Workers, including 140 workplace unions; the Union of Research and Scientific Workers; the media union; and the union of workers in financial institutions (other than banks).
All-industries regional confederations exist in Seoul, Inchon, Seungham, Pusan, Jinju, Masan-Changwon, Northern Chulla and Kwanju/South Chulla.
In two other regions, including south Kyungi, preparatory work is being done to set up confederations. The regional confederations at the moment include more than 250 unions with over 85,000 members. The first regional confederation of the new unions arose in the notorious MasanChangwon free-trade zone in December 1987, as the result of the political struggle in June, as well as of the strike wave that lasted from June until September 1987. A nationwide committee has been formed to lead the campaign to reform the labor law.
After they gain official recognition, unions have to join the FKTU, but in most cases their membership remains a formality. The FKTU is fighting the new union movement with every possible means.
PKTO functionaries themselves organize Ku Sa Dae commando groups. They try to win over newly organized unions. However, in some localities the Minju No Jo has managed to win the local confederations. We met a whole number of trade unionists that consider reform of the FKTU possible in the longer run.
But the great majority think that directly building an independent union confederation is an unavoidable task. "Building an independent union confederation would also step up the pressure on the FKTU," thought a trade unionist in the highly organized Seoul taxi drivers' federation. *