Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 21:01:05 +0000
From: Nick Holden & Kate Ahrens <glengate-AT-foobar.co.uk>
Subject: M-I: Korea


Comrades of the Marxism-International list,

There follows a letter sent today to Kim Young-Sam, president of the republic of Korea, 
together with a resolution passed by the Harborough Constituency Labour Party, of 
which I am a member.


Nick Holden




Harborough Constituency Labour Party
                                                                              
                                                        Chair:  Camille Naylor
                                   11 Fernie Close, Oadby, Leicester, LE2  4SJ
                                                                 0116 271 9170
                                                                              
                           Secretary & Parliamentary Spokesperson: Nick Holden
                          4 Glengate, South Wigston, Leicestershire, LE18  4SP
                                    Tel: 0116 224 9866      Fax: 0116 224 9864
                                                 e-Mail: glengate-AT-foobar.co.uk
                                                                              
                                                              January 17, 1997
President Kim Young-Sam
Seoul
The Republic of Korea
+822 770 0253

Re:  Amendments to Korean Labour Laws, and subsequent demonstrations.

At a meeting of the Harborough Constituency Labour Party yesterday, the attached 
resolution expressing concern about recent events in your country was agreed 
unanimously. We resolved to send notice to you that we, residents of a country many 
thousands of miles from Korea are watching what is happening on your streets, and in 
your government s chambers. We are appalled by what we see, and we give our support to 
the people of Korea in their protests against both the anti-democratic laws passed on
December 26th, 1996, and the most devious and underhand way in which those laws were 
introduced.

We condemn the subsequent action of your government,  in seeking to arrest those Labour 
movement leaders who have organised the protest strike and demonstrations. These 
demonstrations represent the will of the people of Korea, it seems to us, and if you 
stand in the way of the protests, you will be pushed aside.

We salute the bravery of those who have stood up against these anti-Labour laws, and 
urge the working people of Korea to continue their protests, their strikes and their 
demonstrations until they have secured not only the repeal of the legislation, but also 
an amnesty and the dropping of all politically-motivated charges brought against union 
leaders or other organisers of the demonstrations.

Your actions, Mr Kim Young-Sam, and those of your government, have shown the world that 
Korea's pretensions to democracy are barely skin-deep. You do not deserve the respect or 
the tolerance of the international community until you do the job that a president is 
elected to do, and represent the will of your people: repeal those laws, grant a general 
amnesty, and accept the right of all Koreans to hold political views openly, and without 
fear.

Yours,


Nick Holden
Secretary, Harborough Constituency Labour Party

Cc:  Minister of Labour, OECD, ILO, KCTU, FKCU, UK Labour Party NEC


Emergency Resolution:    Korea

Harborough CLP notes with concern the anti-labour laws introduced in the Republic of 
Korea, which severely curtail freedom of association for the country's workers and allow 
Korean companies to more easily fire workers and replace strikers, thus destroying their 
job security. These laws also ban multiple unionism and are clearly designed to outlaw 
the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).

We protest at the amendment of the National Security Planning Agency Act, which will 
reduce democratic rights and make it more difficult to build a democratic society in the 
Republic of Korea, and inhibit the eventual re-unification of the Korean Peninsular.

We are deeply concerned to note that the response of the Korean government to the 
massive popular resistance to the labour laws and the national security planning law, 
has been to arrest all the responsible leaders who took part in the general strike and 
rally. We are further concerned that peaceful protest marches have been disrupted by 
tear gas attacks by the police and mass arrests. 

We believe that freedom of protest is an essential part of a democratic society, and we 
call on the Korean government to recognise the legitimacy of the protests.

We therefore resolve to:

1) Write a letter of protest to the Korean President Kim Young-sam

2) Write a message of support to the KCTU

3) Give our support to solidarity actions in support of the strikers (e.g pickets of the 
Korean Embassy etc).

4) Send a copy of our letters to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party 
and ask, if they have not already done so, that they do all in their powers to help 
ensure no victimisation of protestors takes place in Korea, and that the legislation 
introduced on December 26th is repealed.




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