BY IGGY KIM
SEOUL — A detachment of 4200 riot cops stormed Daewoo Motors' Bu-pyung plant on February 20, ending an occupation by about 500 striking workers and their families.
The Bu-pyong workers began their strike on February 16, in opposition to the company and regime's mass sacking of 1,750 workers, many of them key union activists and militant workers in the plant. This sacking comes on top of some 3,500 who have been laid off since November, and the thousands more made jobless since the collapse of the Daewoo empire in late 1998.
As soon as the occupation began, a mass of riot police sought to block any more workers from joining the action. Skirmishes ensued during the weekend that followed, during which an additional number of workers were able to enter the plant. During that time, the regime issued arrest warrants for 36 union leaders.
The confrontation escalated on February 19, when other contingents from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) began amassing on Bu-pyung. With this strength, the occupying workers and those outside attempted to decisively repel the police lines.
The police then decided to execute an all-out offensive and, following an intense tussle, the plant was cleared by early evening. Seventy-six workers were taken in for questioning and seven are still in detention. A number of workers were forced to retreat into a nearby church, which was then encircled by cops.
The next day, Daewoo Motors' creditor banks rewarded the crackdown with an extension of the credit period and additional loans.
The massive raid was not spontaneous. The government of President Kim Dae-jung wanted to nip the fight in the bud before it spiralled out of control. In addition to the swelling of KCTU ranks on February 19, other Daewoo Motors plants at Changwon and Gunsan were due to begin rolling stoppages on February 20.
The successful restructuring of Daewoo Motors is seen by capital at home and abroad as the litmus test of the Kim regime's neo-liberal program, which is due to move on to the finance and public sectors in the next few months.
In the days following the crackdown, thousands attended daily rallies at Bupyung train station, organised by the KCTU and the Korean Metalworkers' Federation. These were deemed illegal and set upon by the cops.
The train station itself was blocked to protesters, forcing the workers to resort to a tactic used in the days of military rule, when a secret location would be publicised by word of mouth and then suddenly converged upon for a surprise demonstration.
South Korean leftists have called for worldwide support for the Daewoo workers.
A statement issued by the Power of the Working Class (Preparatory Group) described the importance of the dispute: "The completion of Daewoo Motors' restructuring and its sell-off overseas is vital for the onward march of the regime's neoliberal 'reforms', which are nothing but a desperate bid to salvage a deeply crisis-ridden capitalist economy at the enormous expense of working people's living conditions and democratic rights ... It is nothing short of a war on South Korean working people."
The statement concludes, "We urgently call on the international workers movement to take immediate solidarity action to place international pressure on the vicious Kim Dae-jung regime. We request protests and industrial action to target the South Korean government's embassies and consulates, Daewoo Motors outlets and service centres, as well as any other South Korean government representative institutions and figures."