Jogye Order should ensure Han Sang-gyun leaves temple voluntarily

Rev. Jaseung, the executive chief of the Jogye Order of the Korean Buddhism, said on Wednesday, “We will resolve the issue of what we will do with Han Sang-gyun by 10 a.m. Thursday.” Police thus put off the plan to arrest Han, chairman of the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions who failed to appear before police by 4 p.m. Wednesday, to noon Thursday. The Jogye Order said, “Deploying state law enforcement authority is an act of suppressing the Jogye Order and even the Korean Buddhism with state force once again,” warning that the government should be held responsible for any events that may follow, which prompted police to put off the execution of arrest warrant for him.

Han had effectively disclosed his intention to voluntarily appear before police, saying that he would announce his plan of action after the end of "the second general protest rally of populace" on Saturday last week. However, he dumped his promise to the Jogye Order without hesitance, saying “I could hardly afford to disregard the demand by 20 million workers to prevent change of the labor laws for the worse.” Han is placing instructions for organizing rallies spearheaded by KCTU and for blocking parliamentary approval of the labor reform bill through SNS messages. KCTU has warned that it will go on general strike when police move to arrest Han, but only when Han gets isolated then can the nation ensure peace in the labor community. The longer Han is allowed to instigate a general strike on December 16 and the ‘third general protest rally of populace’ on December 19 through SNS, and use the Jogye temple as headquarters for his struggle, the more the state law enforcement authority will come to lose its face and stature.

KCTU expanded its organization by annexing labor unions of regular workers at conglomerates and state-run companies, the Korea Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union and the Korea Civil Servants Union. Since then, the umbrella union constantly engaged in political struggles that resorted to violence including protest rallies against Korea’s resumption of U.S. beef import in 2008 and struggle to block the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement in 2011, before its organization and influence start contracting from the end of the 2000s. As of the end of last year, the union had 690,000 members, or just 3 percent of the nation’s workers. While distorting the labor market through expansion in the number of non-regular workers and widening of the income gap between employees of conglomerates and those of small and medium-sized enterprises, the union is serving the interests of privileged unionists. It is absurd that KCTU with such motive claims as if it represents the entire labor community.

Han is a criminal suspect who gets an arrest warrant and detention warrant for the charges of masterminding violent protest rallies on nine occasions since April this year, yet failing to appear at court hearings. During KCTU’s chairman election in December last year, Han suggested as his election pledge hardline struggle, including "massive protest rallies that would mobilize 100,000 people in the second half of 2015." Delivering on his pledge, Han spearheaded the first protest rally that brought Seoul’s city center to chaos on November 14. As the Jogye Order urged, Han should promptly leave the Jogye-sa temple.

A criminal suspect should no longer be allowed to exploit religious facility as if it is a district of extraterritoriality. Han is merely a criminal who masterminded violent protest rallies by leading KCTU, an anachronistic organization that turns a blind eye to the pain and suffering of unemployed youth. When the leadership of the union that led rail workers’ strike took shelter at the Jogye temple two years ago, the Jogye Order said, “The Jogye temple is a sacred place where people pray and train 24 hours a day, and they should not use the temple as place for selfish interests such as political acts or assemblies.” The fact the Jogye Order warned the state authorities nonetheless by mentioning ‘the government’s responsibility’ for police’s justifiable law enforcement is an act that is hard to understand. The police have refrained from entering the Jogye temple in order to avoid being defrauded by KCTU’s attempt to drive wedge between the Buddhist community and the law enforcement authority. Rev. Jaseung should ensure that Chairman Han will leave the temple by himself by Thursday morning.