Rally at Korean Consulate in Support of KCTU Workers

SAN FRANCISCO (12-05) – Taking “Giving Tuesday” to extremes, conservative 63-year-old South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor attempted to take over the democratic country for himself when he issued a surprise emergency martial law declaration in what has been described as an attempted coup.

Yoon in a nationwide televised address said he was taking the extreme action to impose martial law by accusing his political opposition of “conspiring with North Korea’s communist forces” to “eliminate anti-state elements,” and to protect “constitutional order.”

Responding to this extreme measure in San Francisco outside of the Korean Consulate on December 5 labor and human rights activists along with others held a rally in support of the Korean demonstrators and lawmakers who ultimately helped overturn President Yoon’s emergency martial law declaration.

As things rapidly began to unravel in the aftermath of the declaration, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) called for an indefinite general strike in support of Yoon’s impeachment to preserve Korean democracy saying they would begin organizing anti-Yoon rallies and that the strike would continue until Yoon left office. The issue of prosecution against organized labor by the Yoon government was a recurring theme of several speakers who called for the government to free all KCTU trade unionists who remain jailed.

Also noted by speakers were the all too familiar parallels between what is going on in Korea and proclamations made by Trump on what and how he will deal with similar situations here in the US once he becomes president. The move towards a fascist state espoused by Trump, along with Project 2025 advocates wherein First Amendment rights would be at risk as well as that of workers and unions, looms large on the horizon. One speaker noted that fascism starts slowly when no one pays attention, soon growing rapidly until it subsumes democracy.

Retired San Francisco Superior Court Judge Julie Tang stated that “the treatment of workers by President Yoon has been appalling, along with the way Yoon has treated the 800,000 former slave laborers from WWII that were sent to Japan from Korea and China.”

In resolving the issue of compensation to the former slave laborers, she said that Yoon “In 2023 even though a South Korean court ordered compensation for the slave laborers against Japan, Yoon paid the compensation out of Korean taxpayer money instead of Japan.” She noted when the deal was announced Yoon claimed “it’s crucial for Seoul to build future-oriented ties” with Japan.

Tang called Yoon’s compensation plan “outrageous” saying that “it is the victims themselves paying compensation for themselves and the perpetrators got away. This is not justice.”

Yoon’s extreme declaration imposing martial law resulted in the wake of massive protests over several months in Seoul calling for his impeachment due to his “incompetence, corruption and abuse of power.” His tenure as president has been continually embroiled in numerous corruption scandals that have included his wife, Kim Keon-Hee, who activists have called to be criminally prosecuted for financial improprieties.

The general whom Yoon placed in command of the military in turn issued a decree, suppressing the media and free speech while threatening those who spread “fake news” with arrest. The decree went further by banning all “political activities, citizens’ rallies and labor activities.”

Massive protests resulted with citizens, lawmakers and military troops descending into the streets late in the evening after the presidential declaration, as troops surrounded the National Assembly building. The troops were ordered to enter the building to keep legislators from being able to vote in overturning martial law resorted to breaking windows to bypass the interior door blockades hastily erected by legislators. Six hours after martial law was declared, lawmakers voted unanimously 190-0 in favor of an emergency declaration overturning it.

Infuriated opposition lawmakers called for Yoon’s resignation in characterizing the president’s declaration as both “unconstitutional” and as a “failed coup.” Even the leader of the Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP), Hang Dong-Hoon called the declaration “wrong” and vowed that “We will stop it along with the people.” After the National Assembly passed its declaration to end martial law, Yoon recalled the military.

Lawmakers threatened that if Yoon fails to resign, they will impeach him with a vote to do so coming as early as tomorrow while his ruling party said they would oppose any attempt to do so. As a result of the national election held in April of this year, the PPP failed in its bid to gain a majority of seats in the National Assembly meaning they would likely not be able to turn down such a vote. In the end, the failed “coup” has rocked the country and now sets the stage for further turmoil.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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