'Dismissed Worker' Kim Jin-suk, Letter to President Moon: "Where Did We Start to Divide?"

"No Labor, No Democracy: But Who Reaps Its Fruits?"

On the morning of the 13th, representatives of the Korean Metal Workers' Union held a press conference in front of the main gate of Hanjin Heavy Industries Yeongdo Shipyard in Busan, urging the reinstatement of Kim Jin-suk, the Busan headquarters leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, who was dismissed from Hanjin Heavy Industries 35 years ago. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] Kim Jin-suk (60), a labor union leader of the Busan branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), who was dismissed by Hanjin Heavy Industries over 30 years ago while engaged in labor activism, has written a letter to President Moon Jae-in urging her reinstatement.

On the 20th, Kim held a press conference at Cheonggyecheon Jeontaeil Bridge in Jongno-gu, Seoul, together with 172 civic and social figures including Father Ham Se-woong, calling for her reinstatement. She revealed a letter titled "A Letter from Comrade Kim Jin-suk to President Moon."

In the letter, Kim wrote, "Where did we start to diverge? We were together even when tear gas rained down like a heavy shower in 1986, and we stood side by side in the struggle demanding the truth behind the death of Chairman Park Chang-soo in 1991. We were also together in the position of the Busan regional headquarters of the KCTU." She added, "One person was called a martyr, a strange name engraved on a tombstone, buried in a grave; another has been a dismissed worker for 35 years; and another is called the president ? names at opposite ends of the spectrum."

She pointed out, "There is no democracy without labor, yet workers’ existence is only revealed after death. The younger and more tragically they die, and the more of them die, the more newsworthy it becomes. After the news ends, someone else dies in that very place. If democracy is a tree that grows by drinking blood, then the workers have shed the most blood. So who is picking the fruit of that tree, and who is resting in its shade?"

She continued, "The day before yesterday, the families of the Sewol ferry disaster victims came to support my reinstatement," and questioned, "How long must the weak support the weak, and sorrow comfort sorrow?"

Finally, Kim said, "President Moon Jae-in, who once said my dismissal was unjust, my dismissal remains unjust," adding, "An old comrade earnestly asks."

Meanwhile, Kim Jin-suk joined Daehan Shipbuilding Corporation, the predecessor of Hanjin Heavy Industries, in 1981. However, she was dismissed in July 1986 for producing and distributing leaflets exposing corruption within the union’s executive committee as a union delegate. Despite being dismissed, Kim remained active in the labor field as a leader of the KCTU Busan branch. The government recognized Kim as a democratization activist and, according to related laws, the Democratization Movement Compensation Committee recommended her reinstatement to the company, but the company did not accept it. Kim is approaching retirement age (60 years old) this year.