Former Gaeseong workers sue Seoul for lost wages
By Choi Sung-jin
Employees at companies that operated in the now-defunct Gaeseong Industrial Complex have decided to sue the government for lost wages. It will be the first damage suit against the state in relation to the inter-Korean economic cooperation project.
A council of former Gaeseong workers met Friday, in which the representatives explained their plans and received letters from most of their fellow workers endorsing their mandate to the action against the government.
Workers said the government’s unilateral shutdown of the inter-Korean factory park in the North Korean border city was an unlawful act, and as a consequence it should compensate the workers for their physical and mental damages.
They cited Article 2 of the State Compensation Act, which states, “When government employees violate laws, intentionally or negligently, and inflict damages on others, the central or local governments should compensate for their actions.”
A lawyer representing the workers said that although the government says it made a policy decision under an urgent situation, few people think it was close to an emergency.
“It was unlawful for the government to withdraw from the industrial park without first listening to public opinion. The nation was neither at war nor suffering a natural disaster, but the government shut down the park, which severely hampered the workers’ livelihoods,” lawyer Lee Young-ki said. “We call for the court’s judgment on this.”
Almost three months have passed since the government closed the complex, it has provided no further support for the former workers except for giving each of them 650,000 won ($560) as subsidies to maintain their employment, the council said. As the financial conditions of the businesses have aggravated, they have been forced to dismiss more than 80 percent of the workers, even leaving only a small number eligible for the employment benefits, it added.
The council plans to demand a 12-month salary for each worker. As there are no precedents, however, a fierce legal battle is expected to ensue.
Earlier, an association of the top managers of the companies that operated in the industrial park also decided to request a judgment from the Constitutional Court, claiming the government’s one-sided shutdown of the park was an illegal procedure that violated their “property rights” guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Park Geun-hye administration unilaterally shut down the joint-venture factory park on Feb. 20 after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and launched a long-range rocket. In August 2015, the two Koreas agreed they would keep the park open without mutual consent to close it.