Actress Kim faces probe over participation in strike

Actress Kim Yoh-jin

By Kim Rahn

Police are considering summoning actress Kim Yoh-jin for questioning over her participation in a unionists’ sit-in protest at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction’s shipyard in Busan.

Kim has been actively engaged in various rallies and civic group activities, attracting public attention to some sensitive social issues.

Six activists including Kim were apprehended Sunday morning while exiting the Yeongdo shipyard after taking part in the sit-in rally held by the company’s union members demanding that the company scrap its plan to lay off workers.

Kim and the others entered the dockyard Saturday evening and expressed their support for Kim Jin-sook, a member of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), who has staged a sit-in for more than 150 days on a 35-meter-high ship-building crane since January.

Police took them into custody in patrol cars, and dismissed them about 40 to 50 minutes after confirming their identity.

The actress, considered a power tweeter, said on her Twitter account right after being taken into custody, “I was arrested. They said they are taking me and the other five to Haeundae Police Station.”

She then said: “While being taken, the policemen dismissed us with a caution after receiving a phone call. I was a little bit scared but I’m okay now. I just worry about the people inside the shipyard.”

Police said they apprehended the people as they came out of the shipyard. “When we detained them, it was clear that they broke into the dockyard illegally. We asked them to identify themselves in the patrol cars and they did, so we released them,” an officer at Yeongdo Police said.

Not only the six but also about 400 activists and labor group members broke into the shipyard guarded by private guards hired by the company by climbing over the wall.

Police plan to take legal action against them, summoning 11 leaders of the groups this week.

Police first said Kim also got into the facility by climbing over the wall, but Kim claimed on her Twitter, “I entered and went out through the gate. Who said I climbed over the wall?”

Police said whether she entered over the wall or through the gate, she is still suspected of trespassing.

Police will decide whether or not to press any charges against her after reviewing the circumstances of the scene.

“In principle, we are supposed to take legal action against everyone who entered the facility to join the demonstration, but we haven’t decided to do so for all participants or for only those who led the illegal acts,” the police officer said.

He said some of the “intruders” used violence against the guards, saying they may be charged for trespassing, violence, and not obeying the order to disperse, according to the law on assembly and demonstration.

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