SOUTH KOREA: South Korean workers rally for better working conditions

Record ID: 213990

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: South Korean workers rally for better working conditions
  • Date: 27th June 2013
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 27, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOUTH KOREAN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS MARCHING ACROSS MAIN STREET IN SEOUL WORKERS GATHERING AT SEOUL SQUARE, CHANTING WORKERS CHANTING WHILE HOLDING PLACARDS VARIOUS OF WORKERS CHANTING, MOVING FISTS UP AND DOWN VARIOUS OF WORKERS CHANTING WHILE HOLDING PLACARDS READING IN KOREAN SAYING: "I WANT TO LIVE LIKE A HUMAN BEING" (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SECRETARY OF EDUCATION AND PUBLICITY OF KOREAN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS UNION CHOI DONG-JU SAYING: "From a common-sense point of view, there are a lot of incomprehensible things happening at the construction site. We work, but don't get paid or we even get cheated. Fatal accidents occur frequently, and feel that something illegal is going on. We want to change all these things and we have gathered here for that." MORE OF WORKERS HOLDING FISTS, CHANTING WORKERS HOLDING PLACARDS, CHANTING VARIOUS OF WORKERS CHANTING, PROTEST IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Korea, Republic of
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA75HDNWW26MI3O8KACXJ71YYMZ
  • Story Text: Thousands of South Korean construction workers staged a rally in Seoul on Thursday (June 27), demanding job security and better working conditions.
    About 20,000 construction workers gathered in downtown Seoul.
    Protesters chanted anti-government slogans, waving red banners with some reading: "We want to live like human-beings".
    Secretary of Education and Publicity of Korean Construction Workers Union, Choi Dong-ju said things needed to change.

    "From a common-sense point of view, there are a lot of incomprehensible things happening at the construction site. We work, but don't get paid or we even get cheated. Fatal accidents occur frequently, and feel that something illegal is going on. We want to change all these things and we have gathered here for that," he said.
    South Korea is no stranger to protests, with strong union and student movements staging often violent rallies over the last few decades. In the past, demonstrators themselves have resorted to extreme tactics, even committing suicide during demonstrations.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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