Park Geun-hye’s visit to late activist rejected

By Jun Ji-hye

The ruling Saenuri Party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye’s plan to visit the foundation building of late labor activist Jeon Tae-il was canceled Tuesday after being denied permission from the bereaved family.

The 60-year-old conservative tried to visit the foundation in Jongno, Seoul, but was turned away as the deceased’s family, civic groups and members of the Ssangyong Motors’ labor union blocked her entry.

The family said in a statement issued ahead of Park’s attempted visit, “We are not ready to receive her because the decision was made unilaterally by her side without any prior communication. She should refrain from being self-righteous and stop coercing people into following her own ideas.”

Stressing the seriousness of non-regular employee issues in Korea, they claimed that the daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee needs to visit the memorial altars of victims of the layoffs at Ssangyong Motors before visiting the Jeon foundation and prioritize solving the redundancy issue.

Jeon’s sister, Rep. Jeon Soon-ok of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), also issued a statement saying, “Although she might have visited the foundation with good intentions, she should realize that the non-standard employee matters cannot get be swept away that easily. She needs to focus on the current issues.”

In 2009, Ssangyong Motors’ attempt to lay off 2,646 workers, 36 percent of its total workforce that led the labor union to conduct a strike. Although the union and management reached an agreement that gave 461 workers an unpaid leave of absence and reinstatement after a year, the firm has yet to rehire them. The situation has been blamed for causing the deaths of 22 workers and their family members.

Jeon was a non-regular worker in a sweatshop who set himself on fire to protest the dreadful working conditions he and his co-workers suffered in November 1970 under the late President Park administration.

As he became a symbol of non-standard employee issues, Park’s attempt to visit the Jeon foundation was taken to express her intent to achieve “economic democratization.” On leaving the landmark where Jeon had made the huge sacrifice, Park said, “I will make a country where laborers are happy.”