'Violence Against Police During High-Altitude Sit-in' Arrest of Korean Metal Workers' Union Secretariat Chief

Kim Jun-young, the Secretary General of the Korean Metal Workers' Union Federation (Geumsooknoryeon) under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, was arrested on charges of assaulting police officers during a high-altitude protest, causing injuries.

On the 2nd, Gwangju District Court Suncheon Branch Chief Judge Kwak Hee-do, in charge of warrants, issued the arrest warrant after conducting a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing), stating, "Considering the seriousness of the crime, there is a risk of flight."

On the morning of the 31st, near the POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks in Geumho-dong, Gwangyang-si, Jeollanam-do, a Korean Metal Workers' Union official who set up a 7-meter-high watchtower and staged a high-altitude protest resisted by swinging a rod at the police officers attempting to arrest him.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Secretary General Kim is accused of swinging an iron pipe and other objects at police officers who were suppressing the protest while he was conducting a high-altitude protest on a 7-meter-high steel structure installed on the road in front of the Gwangyang Steelworks in Jeollanam-do at around 5:31 a.m. on the 31st of last month. At that time, Kim himself was also hit on the head by a police baton wielded by the police and is currently receiving treatment at a hospital.

An arrest warrant for Kim Man-jae, Chairman of the Korean Metal Workers' Union Federation under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, who is accused of obstructing police entry while protesting together with Secretary General Kim, was dismissed on the 1st.

They have been protesting since the 29th of last month, demanding that POSCO stop unfair labor practices against subcontractors at the Gwangyang Steelworks.