From: sl26@ellis.uchicago.edu (sangjin  lee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Bad Laws (Another Answers)
Date: 28 Dec 92 16:49:04 GMT
Reply-To: sl26@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: Department of Physics, University of Chicago

First of all, having come to the States last year, I think, or hope that my
information and observations are not so out of date.

(1) Das Kapital:
Yes, you can possess Das Kapital without any harm on the streets of Seoul
in broad daylights. In 1990, there was offered a course called "political
economy" in Seoul National University by Professor Kim Soo Haeng for the
first time in Korea. And one of the textbooks was of course Das Kapital. (I
didn't take that course, though)
What I was pointing out is possessing it still can be illegal according to
the Law on the National Security. The Law states it can punish a person who
possesses any material which may give benefits to the enemy.(The enemy
refers to North Korea or its followers)
The usual mishap is as follows: if the police obtain info about the
demonstration or appearance of student activist leaders, they dispatch riot
police squad beforehand at the entrance of the University, block it, and
start searching everybody trying to enter it(his/her bag, pockets, etc.).
If anything like anti-government print-out, or any socialism books
including Das kapital is found from him, he's pulled out and under
investigation. This thing can happen at the entrances of the subway
downtown.
This practice has been reduced considerably, as compared to three or four
years ago when that search was almost everyday practice, but it still
exists, and has been being done often. After graduating college, I went to
the University very often for couple of months for various reasons(meeting
friends, study, etc.) but there were quite a few problems because I didn't
have proper ID.

(2) Labor-related laws:
One of the most criticized elements about these laws is so-called
'prohibition of the intervention of the third party at time of labor
dispute'.
In other words, any kind of intervention outside the employees and the
employers can be punished. It sounds pretty harmless. But it works like
this.
First of all, government is not the third party. I don't know why. Secondly,
if the employers decide that a dispute (like strike) is an 'illegal dispute
action', which they do almost always, they can request the dissolve of the
illegal dispute, and then the government can send in riot police troops
to arrest the union leaders. That's what happens almost whenever a dispute
occurs.
How is a dispute judged illegal? That's the intervention of the third
party. If the union leaders have any slight connection with a political
groups like the radical opposition groups or student groups, or if the
students claim to support a certain dispute or try to, it can be the
intervention of the third party.
On the other hand, if any arbitration occurs in favor of the government and
the conglomerates, that goes unpunished. There was a ver famous figure last
year (I forgot his name) called 'union destroyer'. He holds a session with
the workers, and gives them speeches quite freely. He's said to be
supported by the employers. He's also said to be very effective to dissuade
the workers out of the unions. He's never been prosecuted. Let's say, if
anybody from the dissident group came there and did the same thing, he
would be arrested the next day.
There are plenty of other loopholes, written very vaguely so that if the
government wants to take on the employers' side, then it can abuse the
laws.
In summary, two apparent problems with these laws are 1. ambiguous
statements prepared to be abused, and 2. practice of selective applications
of these elements in favor of one party.
I would say that those laws should be updated democratically and in
accordance with the fading of the cold war sentiments, and also impartial
application and observance of the laws should be established and monitored.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean