The south Korean authorities held a consultative meeting on security measures for the first time after taking power, at which they branded the strike illegal, and invoked all power bodies to toughen the crackdown upon railway workers. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice, the Police Agency and the Security Administration and other fascist repressive machines have turned out in the crackdown.

They have brought over 190 unionists to the court and dismissed more than 8 500 workers.

On Dec. 22, they called out at least 5 000 riot policemen to break the entrance door of the headquarters of the Confederation of Trade Unions with a hammer and spread tear liquid in a bid to arrest hardcore unionists. Not content with this, the riot police took away one hundred and scores of unionists.

On Dec. 24, the south Korean chief executive gave an instruction to take tough actions against the strike by mobilizing most of the police forces. It is a fascist suppression that can be done only by the descendants of the "Yusin" dictator.

Amnesty International has criticized the mobilization of police forces against the strike as a flagrant violation of the international standard.

It is so natural for the railway workers to down tools in protest against the "government's" plan for privatization of the railway sector, which would favor plutocrats only.

The south Korean authorities are sticking to anti-popular oppressive rules in disregard of the demand and interests of popular masses.

During the presidential election campaign, the present chief executive made a lot of flattering commitments like "economic democracy" and "welfare", but none of them has been implemented until now.

The Park Geun Hye group's brutal suppression of the bare-handed protesters has enraged south Korean people.

The Confederation of Trade Unions denounced the brutal suppression as a declaration of war against all south Korean workers and declared that it would start an indefinite strike to depose Park from the "presidency". And it went into actions such as massive candlelight rallies and a grand meeting of one million people on the situation.

In support of the strike, the Democratic and other opposition parties and 1 280 civic organizations have staged all-people rallies and candlelight demonstrations one after another. Joining in them are students from scores of universities including Seoul National University, hundreds of thousands of civilians and even students of high schools.

The strike of the railway workers coincides with the growing anger of the south Korean people at the present regime over its illegal election, moves of reviving the "Yusin" dictatorship and deceptive election commitments, thus shaking Park's regime to its foundations.

It is self-evident that those who go against the interests of popular masses can never go scot-free.