Kim Hyeong-dong "Excessive Suppression? A Kind of Accident... Still Need to Meet Labor-Management-Government"

Assembly Member's Interview on CBS Radio Kim Hyun-jung's News Show
"Excessive Force Controversy, Investigation Agencies Will Clarify Right and Wrong"

Kim Hyeong-dong, the secretary of the Labor Special Committee and a member of the People Power Party, said on the 2nd regarding the Korea Federation of Trade Unions (KCTU) considering withdrawing from the Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC), a dialogue body directly under the president, "Social dialogue is definitely necessary, so I only hope that a careful judgment will be made for all workers in the Republic of Korea." Kim is a former deputy director of the KCTU Central Legal Office.

On the same day, Kim appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "There must be a channel of communication open so that we can confirm where the fault originated," adding, "If we don't meet, misunderstandings will continue to grow."

Regarding the collapse of the tripartite meeting, Kim said, "Although there had been some distance until now, there had been continuous dialogue behind the scenes, and the tripartite dialogue could have officially started on the surface, but it is regrettable and unfortunate that it could not begin due to a small incident."

Kim Hyung-dong, member of the People Power Party. [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 1st, the KCTU announced that it plans to discuss withdrawing from the ESLC at a meeting scheduled for the 7th. The KCTU declared it would also not participate in the tripartite meeting following the controversy over excessive police force against officials of the Korean Metal Workers' Union Federation (Metal Federation), affiliated with the KCTU, which occurred on the 30th of last month. The controversy arose when the police used batons to suppress Kim Jun-young, the Metal Federation's secretary-general, who was staging a high-altitude protest in front of the Gwangyang Steelworks in Jeollanam-do.

Regarding the controversy over excessive police force, Kim said, "It is very unfortunate, and he is someone I like very much, but the investigation is still ongoing, and I believe the investigative authorities will clarify the facts sufficiently."

He added, "It is a kind of accident, and it is a bit difficult to see it as the police deliberately planning to inflict harm in advance," and said, "If we had known about this case earlier, we might have been able to mediate or intervene more actively, but since we only learned about it after the news came out, it is a very regrettable incident."