POSCO Strike Was Planned In Advance

The occupation of the POSCO headquarters by the Pohang subcontractors’ union was revealed through police interrogation to have been the result of meticulous premeditatation.

At the time of the infiltration, the labor union stated that “it was a incidental break-in that happened when POSCO charged the union with disruption of operations and the conflict became intense.”

But after the occupation was dispersed, piles of unopened rations like instant noodles, bread, and bottled water were found on each floor, along with a tub of liquefied petroleum gas for burners and a large pot.

The police are assuming that the union prepared these commodities in advance near the building and took them inside upon entering.

Meanwhile, POSCO had the building cleared of waste on July 22 and 23 by hiring 1,000 cleaning service workers. So far, 70 5-ton truckloads of waste were cleared up and the number is expected to exceed 100 when cleaning is finished.

POSCO officials have reported that the damage cannot be rectified with cleaning alone, but requires renovation of the whole building.

Kwon-Hyo Lee boriam@donga.com