By Choi Sung-jin
Workers of the 124 South Korean companies that operated at the now-closed Gaeseong Industrial Complex held a rally in downtown Seoul Friday, demanding the government makes "substantive" compensation for their losses.
"The government has deceived us and the public by reiterating the existing policy, such as jobless allowances, and saying as if they were some special measures," said Kim Yong-hwan, head of the Gaeseong workers' organization. "We are neither the government's property nor the scapegoat of its whimsical policy."
Faced with difficulties in making ends meet, the workers have put forth some realistic and effective ideas for compensation, but the unification ministry claimed that all those ideas would be impossible to implement under the present legal system, Kim said.
The government, while announcing support measures for the workers last month, said it would provide subsidies for companies that rehire these workers, but the firms are reluctant to hire them because after the shutdown of the inter-Korean factory park, there isn't much work to do.
The labor ministry for its part promised to give an additional 650,000 won ($520) to each of the Gaeseong workers in an employment subsidy but excluded from the beneficiaries those workers who were engaged in inter-Korean business at their headquarters offices, including logistics workers. The ministry's plan to provide internships is also of little help for the Gaeseong workers, who are mostly in their 40s to 60s, they said.
"The government is trying to minimize the damage by, for instance, announcing that only about 100 workers were dismissed while we estimate that up to 2,000 workers have been hit by the complex's shutdown, directly and indirectly," Kim said. "All the government officials have done so far is to conduct a ‘fact-finding' survey while making no compensation at all."
Several of the protesting workers shaved their heads, calling for the government to give them at least two years' salary as compensation while ensuring their getting back to jobs in more substantive ways.
Workers of the 124 South Korean companies that operated at the now-closed Gaeseong Industrial Complex held a rally in downtown Seoul Friday, demanding the government makes "substantive" compensation for their losses.
"The government has deceived us and the public by reiterating the existing policy, such as jobless allowances, and saying as if they were some special measures," said Kim Yong-hwan, head of the Gaeseong workers' organization. "We are neither the government's property nor the scapegoat of its whimsical policy."
Faced with difficulties in making ends meet, the workers have put forth some realistic and effective ideas for compensation, but the unification ministry claimed that all those ideas would be impossible to implement under the present legal system, Kim said.
The government, while announcing support measures for the workers last month, said it would provide subsidies for companies that rehire these workers, but the firms are reluctant to hire them because after the shutdown of the inter-Korean factory park, there isn't much work to do.
The labor ministry for its part promised to give an additional 650,000 won ($520) to each of the Gaeseong workers in an employment subsidy but excluded from the beneficiaries those workers who were engaged in inter-Korean business at their headquarters offices, including logistics workers. The ministry's plan to provide internships is also of little help for the Gaeseong workers, who are mostly in their 40s to 60s, they said.
"The government is trying to minimize the damage by, for instance, announcing that only about 100 workers were dismissed while we estimate that up to 2,000 workers have been hit by the complex's shutdown, directly and indirectly," Kim said. "All the government officials have done so far is to conduct a ‘fact-finding' survey while making no compensation at all."
Several of the protesting workers shaved their heads, calling for the government to give them at least two years' salary as compensation while ensuring their getting back to jobs in more substantive ways.
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