Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005030638
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/8 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA LENGTH: Medium
Kim Young-il, a worker at the Tongil Industry Co. in the southern town of Changwon, died of burns and head injuries two hours after he jumped from the roof of a two-story building, the reports said.
The national news agency Yonhap said Kim left two letters, complaining of a hard life and protesting alleged police suppression of labor activity.
"Why is my life so hard, Mother?" Kim said in one letter addressed to his family. "This society is making people who want to live an honest life angry."
In the other letter, addressed to his company, he wrote: "I want to fight against Tongil managers and their capitalists, Sung Myung Moon and Moon Sung-kun." The company is owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church. Moon Sung-kun, a son of the minister, is reported to be directly involved in the company's operation.
The company supplies axles and other parts for the Hyundai Motor Co., the nation's largest automaker and the target of a strike by workers seeking greater influence for unions.
The nationwide labor unrest, which has paralyzed many export industries, began Saturday when police stormed the strike-bound Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan.
Workers at the yard - the world's largest - were demanding the release of four union leaders jailed in previous protests.
Authorities say about 300 people, including 235 policemen, have been injured in four days of violent street clashes throughout the country.
The government has vowed to deal resolutely with the protests, saying the nation's slumping economy is at stake. The economy is already beset by shrinking exports and high inflation.
Officials are worried that Kim's death might escalate labor unrest, which had eased considerably on Wednesday. In 1987, the death of a shipyard worker sparked violent nationwide protests.
Self-immolation and ritual suicide is a form of protest often used by South Korean radicals to dramatize their cause.
In Ulsan, which is about 80 miles from Changwon, about 120 workers at the Hyundai shipyard were holding out for a sixth day atop a 240-foot crane. The workers, who climbed the crane during Saturday's police raid, threatened to take "an extreme action" unless they are supplied with food and water.
The workers have threatened to commit suicide if police try to arrest them. Police spread nets and air mattresses around the base of the crane and had anti-terrorist teams and two helicopters standing by in the shipyard.
The city was otherwise quiet as rains fell. A few hundred striking workers shouting insults roamed streets outside the shipyard. The workers confronted squads of riot police but avoided violence, witnesses said.
by CNB