Workers in despair
Leaders should stop acts of 'social murder'While President-elect Park Geun-hye and the Saenuri Party are celebrating their election victory, despairing workers are falling, literally, one by one.Two unionized workers and one civic activist have taken their own lives since the Dec. 19 presidential election, leaving notes filled with desperation about “five more years” of labor repression.President-elect Park might feel disappointed, even displeased, with what she sees as their unduly hasty surrendering of hope even before the next leader has the chance to turn her promises into reality. If so, she must act ― quickly ― to show that she is different from the incumbent president.During campaigns, Park pledged she would make it hard for employers to dismiss workers, and declare those workplaces where massive layoffs are inevitable as “employment disaster zones.”Her idea, albeit too abstract and somewhat smacking of word play, seems laudable, except it talks mostly about future situations, not existing problems.Park is also interested in the labor movement of the pa