Sun Jung Hwang
On June 22, Iraqi militants beheaded Kim Sun-il, a Korean employee of a Baghdad-based food supplier for the US army, after Seoul refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The South Korean government plans to send 3000 more in August.
South Korea is sharply divided. On June 29, a survey found that 84.3% of respondents believe the US waged war on Iraq for US profits, and thus the invasion was not justified. However, 53.4% still support sending South Korean troops there. This is because many Koreans fear that if the South Korean government withdraws its troops, it will suffer economic disadvantage, or even punishment, from the US, which is Seoul's biggest trading partner.
There is growing public pressure on the government to cancel the troops' deployment.
From June 22, the day of the beheading, until June 28, members of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) demonstrated at the National Assembly against Korean troops being in Iraq. They demanded a full investigation into Kim Sun-il's death.
On June 24, 10 DLP lawmakers submitted a resolution to the assembly calling for the withdrawal of the 600 or so South Korean military medics and engineers stationed in Iraq. "The units must immediately return home to protect other Korean nationals", said Cheon Young-se, the DLP floor leader. The ruling parties eventually agreed to hold a one-month inquiry into Kim Sun-il's death.
On June 23, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) called for an end to the sacrifice of lives: "We demand that the Korean government not play puppet to the foreign policies of the US. We strongly reaffirm that the KCTU and all its members will stand at the forefront of the struggle to cancel plans to deploy [more] troops to Iraq."
On June 22, the National Teachers Union also demanded the withdrawal of Korean troops from Iraq. The union conducted anti-war classes from June 28 to July 3. On July 13, it was announced that more than 10,000 teachers had signed a petition calling for a re-examination of the decision to send troops.
On June 29, 130,000 workers who belong to KCTU went on strike against the sending troops to Iraq. The KCTU also decided that its members should attend an anti-war protest on July 14.
Unions representing flight attendants, pilots and airport employees, and port workers have announced their refusal to transport troops or military equipment to Iraq. The transport workers' unions declared on June 26 that the South Korean and US governments were responsible for the murder of Kim Sun-il.
The South Korean anti-war movement is continuing the nationwide candlelight vigils that started when Kim Sun-il was taken hostage, and has called a big demonstration for July 21, and a picket to prevent a ship carrying ammunition to Iraq from departing Pusan on July 24.
From Green Left Weekly, July 21, 2004.
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