Acting President Goh, “Strictly Punish Illegal Acts Related to Election”

Starting from April 2, when the official campaign for the 17th general election is scheduled to be permitted, meetings which aim at demonstrating over the rationality of President Roh’s impeachment will be disallowed.

The government held a policy mediation council on March 25 under the presidency of Acting President Goh Kun and decided to prohibit any types of demonstrations on the impeachment decision from April 2 in accordance with the election law that bans all sorts of meetings which can influence the election during the official election period.

In his briefing, Jung Sun-kyun, chief of the National Administration Publicity Bureau, remarked, “We are considering countermeasures for stopping any meeting from gathering which can influence the outcome of the election from April 2.”

In addition, regarding that the Labor Union of Government Employees (LUGE), which has disclosed its notion for supporting the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in the upcoming election, and the Korean Teachers & Educational Worker`s Union(KTEWU), which has addressed the declaration for nullifying the impeachment bill, have both violated the government employees’ law that prohibits group activities, the government has decided to enter litigation and carry out a disciplinary measure against the lead group of the two organizations respectively.

In particular, the government considers the LUGE’s support of DLP as a violation of the ordinances of the government employee’s law which prohibits any political and group activities of government employees, and decided to order the relevant organizations’ chiefs to conduct disciplinary punishment even on the minor participants. In advance of this decision, Huh Sung-kwan, the minister of Government Administration and Home Affairs, filed a suit against the nine leading executives of LUGE on March 24.

Though the teachers’ union’s declaration for nullifying the impeachment rule has stirred conflicts stating that it violated its duty of maintaining a mediocre state, the government pointed out the clauses of group activity prohibition, having the relevant education offices to indict the problematic teachers.

Goh emphasized at this council, “I will resolutely take measures against the illegal acts.”

As for this measure, the Korean Federation of Trade Unions stated, “We support the claims of LUGE, KTEWU, and the committee for investigating mysterious deaths in earnest. If the government continues to suppress, we will struggle with all our might.”

“The declaration has been designed to manifest the conscience and duties of the teachers as to the incidents with which many people sympathize rather than supporting a certain party in the election campaign,” explained the KTEWU.

On the other hand, as for the incident that some universities have asserted to jointly go on strike for opposing the impeachment rule, the Ministry of Education asked the presidents of universities, in its official letter, to make the extra assurance of caring for academic management and student guidance.