[from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions]
Do not kill any more" - Two more workers burn themselves after late Kim Joo-Ik
**********
The S. Korean people sacrificed a great deal, in the face of tremendous internal repression supported by Washington, to create what is one of the fullest democracies in Asia.
Why wife, for example, as a teenager, risked the fatal wrath of the police and commandos deployed to suppress the pro-democracy uprising which occured in Kwang-Ju city in the early 80's. She ran food to the beseiged protestors through sewer tunnels and other hidden paths.
She witnessed the cold blooded murder of University students and the workers who came out to support them and came quite close to being shot down herself. Consequently, the freedoms the S. Koreans have earned are very precious to her.
The passion that these workers feel for their right to organize, even to the point of taking their lives in some cases, is, for the moment at least, an emotion that's alien to most Americans who spend a great deal of time talking about political freedom but shockingly little actually exercising it.
If the present government of S. Korea intends to roll back the gains made they will be in for a hell of a fight.
DRM
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/