As the crisis of capitalism deepens, we are seeing the rise of the far-right and authoritarianism in many parts of the world. The workers and people of South Korea are also fighting against this trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, South Korea had a general election, in which the right-wing Yoon Suk-yeol administration was harshly judged for its far-right tendencies. Over the past two years, the Yoon administration has pursued blatantly pro-capitalist policies in various aspects such as taxation, real estate regulation, and labor policies. It has also pursued hardline pro-US and pro-Japanese policies that have led to increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Deteriorating relations with China have further depressed economic growth, and persistent inflation has exacerbated the suffering of ordinary people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most importantly, the government has severely attacked workers and unions. It strongly cracked down on a strike by the truck drivers’ union, which was demanding an expansion of the standard fare system, a kind of minimum wage. It has called the construction union \u201cgangsters\u201d and detained more than 40 workers. The government vowed to introduce a system that would increase the workweek to 69 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this general election, the ruling People Power Party won only 36% of the seats. So this government is in a state of crisis that could lead to impeachment, similar to the Park Geun-hye government in 2016. The working masses and people have strongly judged the right-wing government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the judgment against the right-wing regime came in the form of supporting center-right candidates. The center-right, including the Democratic Party, won a landslide victory, taking 62% of the seats. The problem is that the center-right is not a party for the working class. The center-right has a more sophisticated face and appears to be more conciliatory to workers, but it is ultimately on the side of the capitalists. For example, the Democratic Party does not support the expansion of the standard fare system demanded by the truck drivers’ union. The crackdown on the construction union began under the previous center-right government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In light of this government’s crisis, it is worth looking back at the events surrounding the impeachment of Park Geun-hye in 2016-17. A year before the massive candlelight protests in 2016-17 that led to Park’s impeachment, there was a general strike by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). It was a struggle against the Park regime’s labor reforms, which included a performance-based pay differentiation system and the liberalization of dismissals. When the general strike began in 2015, the Park government was in a strong position. Although the Park government had been transforming society in a far-right direction in many areas, the fear associated with being the daughter of the military dictator Park Chung-hee made it difficult for people to resist. The KCTU general strike was not very successful, but it created a crack in the regime’s fortress by making people realize that they could fight back against the Park regime. The massive candlelight protests of 2016-17 were able to erupt by breaking through the cracks created by the KCTU general strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early days of the candlelight protests, the KCTU was at the center. The masses wanted to remove Park from office through the power of mass struggle rather than relying on impeachment, the outcome of which is uncertain. This would have been possible if the KCTU had unfolded a strong general strike to force Park to resign. In fact, the KCTU called for a general strike, but it failed due to a lack of momentum on the ground. The Democratic Party then pushed for impeachment and succeeded. In the end, the Democratic Party became the winner of the candlelight protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Democratic Party government after the candlelight protests stopped the labor reforms promoted by the Park government. However, it refused to make improvements to change the poor lives of irregular workers. It promised a significant increase in the minimum wage, but only raised it by a smaller amount than previous right-wing governments. It opposed changes in the labor laws to guarantee irregular workers the full right to organize, bargain, and strike. It failed to curb real estate speculation, which caused housing prices to skyrocket. The working masses and people, frustrated with the Democratic Party government, finally chose a right-wing candidate in the 2022 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The right-wing government is now in crisis again. If the judgment on this government comes down to the return of the Democratic Party to power, nothing will fundamentally change. We believe that the KCTU, the democratic trade union movement, should take up the struggle against the right-wing government in its own way, with its own demands. The key is to organize a powerful general strike for the urgent demands of the working class, especially the irregular workers, such as a significant increase in the minimum wage and a revision of the labor law to fully guarantee the right to organize, bargain, and strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the crisis of capitalism deepens, we are seeing the rise of the far-right and authoritarianism in many parts of the world. The workers and people of South Korea are also fighting against this trend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"crp_sub_category":"South Korea","crp_read_time":"","crp_featured":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,83],"tags":[42,23,7],"coauthors":[92],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia","category-international","category-south-korea","tag-asia-pacific","tag-labor","tag-south-korea"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n