THE African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) on Wednesday joined her global counterpart to deplore the arrest of Mr Yang Kyeung-soo, the President of the Korean Confederation of Trade Union (KCTU) President, on the orders of the Seoul Central District Court.
The Seoul Central District Court, ITUC-Africa stated, on Friday issued the warrant to arrest Kyung-soo over the rallies held in downtown Seoul between May and July 2021.
A statement from ITUC-Africa headquarters in Lomé, Republic of Togo, signed by General Secretary, Comrade Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, said the warrant allows the police to detain Kyeung-soo for an initial ten days of interrogation over the July 3rd demonstration.
“We find it unacceptable that the KCTU President’s action of leading a demonstration to demand a moratorium on dismissal of workers, and KCTU’s call on the government to take urgent action to protect lives and livelihoods during the pandemic is being criminalized,” Comrade Adu-Amankwah said.
Adu-Amankwah noted that the “the demonstration was socially distanced” with demonstrators wearing masks. He added that after the rally, it was equally confirmed that there was no coronavirus transmission from the event.
“Nevertheless, the Police booked 23 people in connection with that rally, including Yang, and sought an arrest warrant on him Aug. 6, citing the seriousness of the crime during a pandemic and the risk of him repeating it.
“We find it totally unacceptable that the COVID-19 pandemic is being used to shrink democratic spaces and undermine human and trade union rights.
“Using demonstrations to draw the government’s attention to the need for it to be responsive and responsible to the needs of its people is one way of participating in governance.
“We, therefore, condemn the pretext of using the pandemic to strangle citizens’ rights to participate in governance.
“African workers, therefore, call for the immediate cessation of legal proceedings against Comrade Yang Kyeung-soo and the unconditional release of all those arrested for taking part in the rallies,” Comrade Adu-Amankwah said.
