calendar>>January 12. 2013 Juch 102

Actions for Vital Rights Declared in S. Korea

Pyongyang, January 12 (KCNA) -- The Emergency Situation Council for Urgently Coping with Lay-off, Part-time Job and Destruction of Trade Unions in south Korea held a press conference in Seoul on Jan. 4 at which it called upon all to turn out in the actions for vital rights. The organization comprises workers, peasants, civic and public organizations and opposition parties.

At the press conference speakers recalled that five workers died in south Korea in just a few days at the end of last year.

But the authorities have not yet discussed any measure for guaranteeing vital rights, they charged.

Many people are being killed due to the authorities who treat the people as slaves, not human beings, they deplored.

Vital rights can be won only through actions against the authorities' unpopular rule, they said, adding:

That was why martyr Jon Thae Il committed suicide more than 40 years ago in protest against the authorities' policy against workers, shouting "We are not machines" and "We want to live as human beings."

They declared they would rise up in an all-out action if the authorities continue destroying trade unions, refusing to meet the demands for the abolition of lay-off and part-time jobs.