The Police to Serve a Seizure and Search Warrant against KCTU

On Day Six of general strikes by the Cargo Transportation Workers` Union (CTWU), the police with search warrants issued by the court came out yesterday to arrest union leaders while cracking down on protests.

At a Cheong Wa Dae cabinet meeting, President Roh Moo-hyun said, “Interest groups` effort to advance their own goals taking key national infrastructure, such as logistics, as hostage must not be tolerated”, instructing, “Constant and rigid crackdown should be employed.”

According to a presidential spokesperson Yoon Tae-young, President Roh emphasized in saying, “While opening the door to the negotiation with the unionists, the government will respond vigorously and strictly in accordance with rules and laws to any insincerity or resistance to the proposal of dialogue.”

The police in groups yesterday began to search for 16 union leaders including Kim Jong-in, the CTWU head, who are accused on charges for the obstruction of justice. The police secured a seizure and search warrant on a Busan office of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a place where protesters gathered. The police also plan to apply for a warrant on a KCTU headquarters in Youngdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

The KCTU said in a response, “We will wage a war against the government since we take the government`s recent move as a declaration of war.”

On the other hand, statistics disruption in southern ports is showing signs of regaining order. An increasing number of union workers are retuning to work and the volume of inbound and outbound container cargoes at major ports increased compared with a day before.

The Ministry of Commerce, industry, and Energy (MOCIE) said that, as of August 26, 61.6% of BCT cargo owners were said to be willing to come back to work and that the number of retuning vehicles around Busan Port was increasing. “Motivated by the retuning BCT owners, other cargo owners of the Unions seem to follow their steps,” said Choi Jun-young, a director of the industrial police bureau at the MOCIE.

Yet the cargo unionists retorted the government‘s claim, saying, “Not a single member of the Unions has returned to work.”

Container transportation rate at Gwangyang Port soared from 38.1% on August 15 (in comparison with normal situation) to 71% on the following day. The figure at Gyeongin ICD in Uiwang City, Gyeonggi Province, also showed increase from 29.7% to 65.6% during the same period. Busan harbor also reclaimed its transportation rate to 55%. The MOCIE estimated the cost of missed transportation and shipping since the strikes began to August 25 approximately at 419 million dollars. In the meantime, as some even went out to interrupt non-member cargo vehicles at work, the police arrested 26 on the spot for the disturbance. Arrest warrants are underway against five out of the arrested people.