S. Korea Police, Protesters Clash Over Worker’s Death

Riot police Sunday battled hundreds of striking shipyard workers protesting the death of a fellow worker on the remote southern island of Koje, where the country’s second-largest shipbuilding company has been hit hard by labor strife.

Lee Suk Kyu, 21, a shipyard worker, died after reportedly being hit Saturday by fragments of a tear-gas canister in a clash between about 3,000 workers and 1,300 police at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Machinery Ltd. His death was the first in nearly two months of labor unrest in South Korea.

Another protest over Lee’s death was held in Seoul, where about 2,500 students and workers fought with police. Police fired tear gas to scatter the Sunday demonstrators, who hurled rocks and gasoline bombs outside Yonsei University after a campus rally.

Earlier, the ruling Democratic Justice Party urged restraint in labor disputes after more than 2,000 workers kept an emotional overnight vigil by Lee’s body on Koje Island.

One policeman was seriously injured when about 500 of those workers sealed off the hospital mortuary holding Lee’s body and refused to allow police inside, news reports said. However, police said an autopsy would take place.

About a mile away, police fired tear gas to prevent about 1,000 workers from marching out of the Daewoo shipyard after a one-hour protest rally, the state Korean Broadcasting System reported. Workers there have been staging protests for the last 16 days demanding negotiations with top company officials in an effort to win steep wage increases.

Avoiding Violence

A union leader had been quoted earlier as saying that Daewoo workers would avoid violent protests until after Lee’s funeral, tentatively set for Wednesday.

But later reports said many at the rally declared, “We cannot pardon police violence.” The workers battled about 800 police with rocks and firebombs in an unsuccessful effort to break through police lines at the shipyard’s main gate, the reports said. No arrests or injuries were reported in the 30-minute clash.

Labor protests began Aug. 8 at the shipbuilding firm, which shut down Friday after militant union members turned down a labor-management accord. The agreement would have given the yard’s 15,000 workers an additional $18 per month, but the workers sought twice that figure.

Meanwhile, a Labor Ministry official said that for the first time, the number of labor disputes settled Sunday exceeded the number of new disputes.

The official, who requested anonymity, said 105 labor disputes were settled and 59 disputes began.

“The worst seems to be over,” he said, “but the situation is not likely to calm down for a long while.”

In Seoul, bus service was almost back to normal after a partial walkout Saturday, but foreign and domestic flights at Seoul’s airport were delayed Sunday as 500 ground workers walked out for the second consecutive day, despite a government-mediated agreement late Saturday night.