Trade unions to observe Labor Day with N. Koreans

(Vol.200104 No.63)
Representatives from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) met with their counterparts from the North Korean League of Workers at Mt. Kumgang resort on Apr. 20-21. They agreed to hold events commemorating the 111st Labor Day on May 1 with the participation of 1,200 workers from the two Koreas, the trade union groups said Sunday. The two major umbrella union groups said the participants would attend a circus performance by North Koreans and have a soccer match and other sports events. The South Korean delegation of 600 unionists will leave for North Korea from Sokcho port on the east coast on the morning of Apr. 30 and return home May 2.

KCTU has threatened to cancel the planned North Korea trip of 300 members and mount a struggle for the abolition of the National Security Law in case the government does not give permission for its unification committee chairman Lee Kyu-Jae to visit North Korea. Lee is accused of violating the National Security Law. It said it would not accept a police injunction against its Labor Day rally and disclosed a plan to hold a ceremony at Daehakro and a parade as far as the Kwanghwamun intersection on May 1. Police said a mass gathering was not permissible in the downtown area where many foreign diplomatic missions are located and expressed an intention to prohibit the Labor Day rally.

(DongA Ilbo) 24-Apr-2001