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Police deny permission for meeting with locked-up umbrella union leader

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Police deny permission for meeting with locked-up umbrella union leader

Posted on : Dec.17,2015 17:17 KSTModified on : Dec.17,2015 17:17 KST

                        
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions president Han Sang-gyun is arrested by police after leaving Jogye Temple in Seoul, Dec. 10. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)

International Trade Union Confederation official had wanted to meet with Han to check on him while he’s detained

The police denied a request by an official from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to meet with Han Sang-gyun, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), who is being held at Namdaemun Police Station in Seoul, citing concerns that he might “destroy evidence.” The ITUC objected that this was absurd and inhumane.

According to sources with the police and the KCTU interviewed by the Hankyoreh on Dec. 16, Noriyuki Suzuki, general secretary for the ITUC Asia Pacific, expressed his wish to meet with Han via the KCTU’s international bureau on Dec. 14. Jang Jong-oh, a lawyer with the KCTU‘s legal center who is representing Han, paid a personal visit to the Namdaemun Police Station on Dec. 15, where he submitted a request for an interview on behalf of ITUC. But the police sent a text message denying this request around 8:40 am on Dec. 16.

When asked by the Hankyoreh during a telephone interview why it rejected this request, an official at the police station said, “We rejected it because there are concerns that Han might conspire with other people and destroy evidence as outlined in Article 91 of the Criminal Procedure Act. We are currently denying interviews to anyone other than family members.”

“As Han is the only president of an ITUC member union that is currently in jail, Suzuki requested an interview so that he could communicate a message of solidarity and to see for himself how Han is doing. This is an interview with a non-Korean who has no connection with the case for which Han is detained. It’s really ridiculous for the police to refuse the interview because of concerns about destruction of evidence and conspiracy,” said Jang.

“The police decision places the right of the detained to have interviews under broad restraints,” the lawyer added.

“This is an authoritarian decision that infringes Han’s rights, given that he has not even been convicted of the crime yet,” said KCTU Spokesperson Park Seong-sik.

Representing 328 labor unions from 162 countries and 176 million workers, the ITUC is the world’s largest trade union organization.

In related news, the KCTU carried out a general strike on Wednesday involving the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU). According to the KCTU, three chapters from automakers Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, and GM Korea took part in the strike.

It was the first time for the unions at the three car manufacturers, who form the core of the KMWU, to join together in a general strike since 2008, when they struck to block a free trade agreement between South Korea and the US.

Around 74,000 workers at 26 companies around the country participated in the strike on Wednesday, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

By Kim Kyu-nam and Noh Hyun-woong, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]




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