KTU Chairman Won Young-man Arrested

Seoul Yeongdungpo Police Office applied for an arrest warrant against the Chairman of the Korean Teachers & Educational Workers` Union (KTU) Won Young-man for the count of waging a collective strike against the National Educational Information System (NEIS) on July 16th.

The police said, “While a related law is banning any kind of strikes, the Labor Unit initiated such a strike intruding on students` right to get right education. So, we applied for an arrest warrant for the Chairman Won.

Chairman Won made a voluntary appearance to the Police on July 15th and was put under the close investigation while other 6 Unit officials returned home after being interrogated by the police on July 11th and 14th.

Chairman Won stated at the investigation, “A strike is a natural right given to teachers and we did not have the intention to obstruct school curriculum on purpose. I cannot understand why the authority had to apply for my warrant despite the fact that there have been almost no losses in curriculum lessons due to supplementary classes.”

The KTU is showing a strong resistance against its chairman`s arrest threatening with a possible anti-government movement.

The Unit released its statement saying, “This is the first time that the chairman was under arrest since the legalization of our organization. It was too much for the authority to apply for his arrest under the circumstances where there was little possibility for him to run away and eliminate relevant evidence.”

It emphasized, “If the government attempted to arrest him, we would suspend all conversations and cooperation with the government. We are willing to go as far as to wage an all-out war against the administration.”

Jin-Suk Huh Hyo-Lim Son jameshuh@donga.com aryssong@donga.com