From: shin-jungshik@yale.edu (Jungshik Shin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Re: aftermath of election
Date: 30 Dec 1992 03:52:31 -0500
Organization: Yale University
NNTP-Posting-Host: minerva.cis.yale.edu

In article <85862@ut-emx.uucp> btlee@emx.cc.utexas.edu (Mr. Byungtae Lee) writes:
>From: sl26@ellis.uchicago.edu (sangjin  lee)
>
>>(3) The Problem of the prisoners of conscience:
>>
>>All of the bad laws have legitimacy. They are called such when they
>>violate the fundamental human conscience, or specifically the written
>>Constitution. That's my definition anyway. That the law has legitimacy
>>doesn't make it a good law.
>>There are three exemplary bad laws: The Law on the National Security, The
>>Law on the Assembly and the Demonstration, and the three laws on the
>>Laborors' activities. I don't have to explain why they are bad laws, do I?
>>They violate the freedom of thoughts, freedom of assembly and
>>demonstration, all of which are clearly written in the Constitution of
>>Korea.
>>One distintive feature of them is that they're written very ambiguously so
>>that they can be applied very extensively. That's why Im Soo Kyung was
>>arrested for her activity at North korea, while non of the heads of
>>conglomerates who visited North Korea ILLEGALLY were not prosecuted. Under
>>the Law on the National Security, their action can be easily illegal.
>>Have you thought of a situation that a student can be arrested and put into
>>jail only because he possessed Karl Marx's 'Das Kapital'? I'm not a
>>communist or something, but it's rather a question of basic freedom. While
>>it can be used as a textbook in colleges, if a person possesses it, he(she)
>>may be arrested for it. Why is it so? The authority uses this tool to
>>arrest the student activists. When they seize the activists or protesters,
>>and have nothing to put him under arrest, then they look for such books,
>>and then they can be arrested legally under the Law of National Security.
>>While Mr. Rohs government claims that there is not a single political
>>prisoners in Korea, the Amnesty International keeps reporting that there
>>are ongoing practices of political prisonings. When I said the number of
>>'em more than doubled during the 6th Republic, I meant basically those
>>arrested and put into jail by the abusive use of the three main bad laws.
>
>
    

>         You are talking about at least 5 year ago Korea.

  I'm sure he has as updated information as you have.

>         Possessing 'Das Kapital' does not violate any law in Korea now.
>         Sorry  I had it in Korea.  Without forma form of organization,

Surely not. Students with 'Das Kapital' would not be arrested. It was
published in Korean and available to everyone.  However, August,1991
graduate students of economics and sociology at SNU were arrested and
prosecuted because of their theses ,one of which had been already approved
as a thesis for MA in economics. The prosecutor argued that they were
arrested NOT for writting such theses BUT for distributing them to general
public because the government feared that it would be criticized for oppresing
freedom to study or whatever it's called in English. What difference is
there between arresting students for writting theses with what government
hate and arresting them for making them available to public? Whichever is
the case, they're prisoner of conscience or political prisoners, aren't
they?   They were set free eventually but the court found or were forced to
find  that they were GUILTY of what they were prosecuted for.  
 
>         even your adovocate of communism can not be punished. I explained

  Really?  Pak,No-Hae, a famous poet, along with his wife, was sentensed to
death or life in prison for being a socialist and the leader of
anti-government organization,Socialist Workers' Union(Sa-No-Mang).
Incidently, Sa-no-mang vigorously opposes idelogy of N. Korea.

>         why Im/Moon case was different from the other case. 

To you, they may not be prisoners of conscience. But, to members of AMNESTY
International, they are very conspicuous examples for prisoner of
conscience. (See Dec. or Nov. ,1991 issue of AMNESTY Int'l Newsletter?).
They had been in jail for doing what they believed was right to do which is not
against any moral standard though against current law. 
  

>         What aspect of labor laws of Korea is bad now?
>         Do you know Korean government recently signed ILO treats and joined
>         that organization?  Do you know korean labor acitivity law fully
                                                                     ^^^^^
>         suuports all three fundamental rights now?  Do not speak out with
  Is it for everyone?   
>         outdate information. 
          ^^^^^^^: Actually, there's not been  so much change in labor
laws since 1987. 

   Yes, S. Korea joined ILO but with  reservation for some provisions. Even
provisions supposed to be effective right after signing are in conflict with
current Korean labor laws and it does not seem that in near future ILO
provisions will be applied over conflicting Korean labor laws. Nor does DLP
appear to revise conflicting laws soon. Present Korean laws do not allow
teacher's union(About 1,500 teacher were ousted from schools and are now on
the street. More than that, recently teachers who asked for reemployment of
ousted teachers were fired or punished,too,which is another example to show that
'freedom of expression and speech' are not guaranteed in Korea as written in
the Constitution).   Also, most civil servants are denied all of their labor
rights. (Note that Korea is among  FEW nations in the world NOT allowing
teacher's union)

  More important is that there are a lot of pitfalls and traps in current
Koreans labor laws which can be used and have been used by the government
and the owners to suppress labor movement.  For instance, multiple unions in
a sigle workplace or company are not allowed so that it's impossible for
workers to make a new union truly representing their interests against
'fake' union controlled by management. (There were many cases where
application for labor union by workers was rejected while application for
union by employers controlled by the owner was approved immediately). On top
of that, that makes illegal  nation-wide organization of labor unions other
than existing one.  
Another very bad provision is prohibition of 'third-party' intervention
which prevents labor union from getting necessary legal and other external
aids whearas the owner can get every help (s)he needs.  There are a number
of prisoners arrested for this provision.  



>         How can you explain the arrest of demonstrators in USA?
>         Can you explain the difference between the assembly and demonstraion
>         laws of two country?  Do you believe that in this crowded cities, any 
>         form of demonstration should be allowed? Then why so many anti
>         abortion demonstrators were errested who blocked clinics here.

  Anti-abortion demonstrators were not arrested for demonstrating but for
 denying others right to choose supported by the US Supreme Court by means of
violence like blocking entrance of abortion clinic.

   How do you explain the fact that demonstration by pro-government
organization is allowed while one by anti-government organization is not
allowed even if both asked for approval of assembly in the same place at the
same time of week?  
  Do you think that the assembly at a school would make traffic jam and do
you really believe that's why the government does not allow assembly of
organizations that for sure will peacefully demonstrate if allowed (e.g.
teacher's union).  Large  police force deployed to block
demonstration would result in much more severe traffic jam than 
demonstration to be blocked by it, wouldn't it?
   
   
         
>         I am not saying that Korean laws are perfect nor I am supporting 
>         Korean government.

  You seem to support Korean government very effectively by denying it. 

>         But for better discussion, I do believe we should
>         be more specifically informed and more rational.

   Then, would you please answer my question (also mentioned by S.J. Lee), why
Chong,Chu-young who visited secretly N. Korea BEFORE S-N. Korea Exchange
Law(Nam-Puk-Kyo-ryu-hyop-ryok-pop) seemingly WITHOUT approval of the
government ,UNLIKE what you wrote in your previous posting, was not punished
at all.   

  Final note to add: I think the poster of the article you followed up
cannot be more rational than he has been because his articles have been
extremely rational. 


   Jungshik Shin