hankyoreh

Members of the KCTU-affiliated Korean Construction Workers Union hold a press conference outside the Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital on May 2 following the death of a fellow union member who was being treated at the hospital after self-immolating one day earlier. The union said that the incident was brought about by the Yoon administration’s persecution of the KCWU, and that they would continue their struggle. (Kim Gyoung-ho/The Hankyoreh)

The Korean construction unionist who self-immolated in protest of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s crackdown on unions died on Tuesday after being treated.

Labor circles and experts are expressing concern that the government’s demonization of unions could lead to extreme social conflict.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions-affiliated Korean Construction Workers Union (KCWU) revealed on Tuesday that a 50-year-old surnamed Yang who had served as a district leader in Gangwon Province had died that day at 1:09 pm.

Yang died one day after he was transferred to Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital, a burn center in Seoul, after self-immolating in front of a courthouse in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. He was due for a warrant review hearing later in the day.

The union leader had been under investigation since February for alleged racketeering at construction sites.

At a press conference in front of the hospital on Tuesday, Yang’s fellow union members said that the government and police’s “over-the-top, high-handed investigation” caused this tragedy.

Kang Han-su, the senior vice chairperson of the KCWU, said, “The agreement we negotiated for is now being labeled ‘coercive’ and ‘intimidation.’ The trade union act is dead.”

The union plans to hold a full-scale rally this month following a 5,000-strong rally of union leaders in Yongsan scheduled for Thursday.

At a press conference outside their offices in Seoul on Tuesday, the KCTU demanded “an apology from the president, the resignation of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and an end to the persecution of construction unions.”

Experts worry that the government’s anti-union policies and their framing of construction unions as racketeers will deepen social conflicts.

“The president has demonized unions as committing violent acts on construction sites and treated them as the epitome of sin, so those on the sites feel that they are being treated unfairly,” commented Lee Byoung-hoon, a professor of sociology at Chung-Ang University.

“The more persecuted labor is, the harder the unions will retaliate,” he added. “I am afraid that this will lead to something much more extreme.”

By Kim Hae-jeong, staff reporter; Jang Hyeon-eun, staff reporter

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