BY IGGY KIM
PARIS — A delegation from the Daewoo Workers' Joint Struggle Committee arrived here on February 23 to internationalise their current struggle against the bankrupt South Korean automobile manufacturer.
The delegation is made up of Yu Man-hyeong, a Daewoo worker sacked last June for taking part in the campaign against the sell-off of Daewoo, Park Jum-kyu of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and Hwang Yi-min of the joint struggle committee.
In early February, the committee decided to send the delegation to France because Daewoo's fugitive boss, Kim Woo-joong, had been spotted there. Kim has run away with about US$35 billion of company funds, much of it public money provided by the government to put the Daewoo Group back on its feet after its collapse in late 1999.
The delegation's initial purpose was to put the international spotlight on the lack of action by President Kim Dae-jung in bringing Kim Woo-joong to justice. This inaction is due to the huge web of collusion between South Korean capitalists and politicians, mutual back-scratching that goes all the way to the president himself.
Following government's use of riot police to evict striking Daewoo workers on February 19, the delegation was also given the task of internationally publicising the violent actions of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president.
The delegation has been hosted jointly by the French trade union group SUD (Solidarity, Unity, Democracy) and the anti-globalisation NGO ATTAC (Action for a Tobin Tax to Assist the Citizen). Support has also come from European MP Alain Krivine, a leader of the French Revolutionary Communist League (LCR).
A meeting with the Association of Magistrates resulted in a donation of 500 francs and a protest letter to Seoul. The head of the Human Rights League, Michel Tubiani, will look into sending an official delegation to South Korea to investigate the anti-worker repression.
The Paris regional office of the metalworkers federation attached to the CFDT (the social-democratic influenced French Democratic Confederation of Workers, the country's second largest trade-union federation) donated 1000 francs. Meetings were also held with the international department of the Communist Party-influenced CGT (General Confederation of Workers, France's main trade union federation) and the left-liberal monthly Le Monde Diplomatique, which was a driving force in setting up ATTAC.
A protest in front of the South Korean embassy resulted in the embassy staff agreeing to meet with representatives from ATTAC, SUD and Yu from the Daewoo delegation.
On March 2, a well-attended demonstration in front of Interpol headquarters in Lyon was supported by the CGT and the CFDT . This protest also resulted in Interpol agreeing to meet with a combined French and Korean delegation.
A large part of the authorities' response is also due to the enormous media fanfare surrounding the delegation, much of it sympathetic. This has included prominent articles by the daily newspaper Le Monde, a full-page story in Liberation, a live interview on LCI (France's version of CNN), coverage by several other major TV and radio stations, the international French press agency AFP, a prominent Mexican newsweekly and international French radio (for Francophone countries).
On March 3, a demonstration was held in front of Kim Woo-joong's mansion in Nice. The delegation pasted posters on the front gate declaring the mansion's seizure on behalf of Daewoo workers. Unfortunately, nothing can be done against Kim or his assets until Seoul formally requests such action from the French government.