Sin Sung Chol, chairman of the KCTU, in his speech at the rally stressed the need to always remember the disaster of the ferry Sewol saying that the tears of the bereaved families and all the workers should not be in vain.

He called upon all 800,000 members of the KCTU to take part in the 10 million signature campaign in demand of the enactment of a special law for probing the truth behind the ferry Sewol disaster.

He called for bringing a political strike of the KCTU to a success on July 22.

Then followed a meeting on the situation in protest against the total opening of rice market and in demand of halt to denationalization and basic right to work.

At the end of the meeting the participants staged a demo.

The riot police ran amuck to suppress demonstrators, firing water-cannon at them. The police took away at least 20 protesters.

Prior to the rally of the KCTU, a meeting of the south Korean Federation of Peasants Associations took place at Chonggye Square in protest against the authorities' moves to open rice market.

The Government Employees' Union, the Health Workers' Union and Railways Workers' Union, the Public Transport Workers' Union and other unions under the KCTU held meetings in different parts of Seoul in protest against the unpopular rule of the present regime.