Sungmi Park's Commentary (in English)

8/3/2019 Sungmi Park's Commentary (in English)

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The workers at Hanjin Heavy Industry went on a strike in 2002, when the company one-

sidedly decided to freeze their wages and lay off 650 of them. The firm rejected a collective

bargain while it sued 20 union leaders for damages, putting their homes under provisional

seizures, and filed criminal charges against them to cause distress to the striking workers. On

October 1, arrest warrants were issued for six union leaders from Federation of Korean Metal

Workers Trading Unions and its Hanjin Heavy Industry branch, including Kim Ju-ik, the

branch leader. Kim had been on a sit-in protest, alone on Crane No. 85 35m (115 ft) above

the ground. Urging the company to come out to the negotiation table, his lonely strife lasted

for 129 days but met with no response. Then on October 17, after leaving a note asking his

colleagues to continue the fight, he took his own life in protest of the capitalist oppression onworkers' rights. He was followed by Kwak Jae-gyu, who had been deeply distressed by Kim's

death, leaping at Dock No. 4 near the crane to his death on October 30, 3:50 p.m.

Years after, on January 10, 2011, the company announced dismissal of more than 400

workers after completing a shipyard in Subic, Philippines where payroll costs are cheaper. It

was a breach of the agreement achieved through the deaths of two workers in 2002. Even

though the company cited managerial difficulties as the pretext for the massive layout, itsexecutives enjoyed stock dividends worth 17.4 billion KRW ($14.7 million) the very next

day after the layoff. In protest of such a outrageous conduct, Kim Jin-suk has gone on another

sit-in on the same crane. She has been communicating with Korean citizens across the

country via her smart phone and Twitter, gaining sympathy from the society. On June 11,

2011, hundreds of citizens, unaffiliated with any union, voluntarily gathered and came to

Busan to show their support for Kim. The protest has gained momentum and became today's

most visible civil movement in Korea, with tens of thousands of participants joining in

protest of the capitalist oppression of workers' rights and the brutal "labor flexibility". It is

what we call "Hope Bus." On June 27, the company announced a new agreement, saying the

strike is officially over, but it was signed single-handed by the company's current union

leader and wasn't agreed upon by the workers'. Still, the company went on to pull out the

workers sitting in from the shipyard, except those on the crane. At the moment, Kim Jin-suk

has been on the Crane for more than 265 days, and four workers, who went up to the middle

of the crane tower to guard her, have been sitting in for about 90 days.



(7,8P)

Kim Jinsuk has change the world through her struggle on the crane

The Story of the Hope Bus

The Story of the Hope Bus

Kim Jinsuk was truly an attractive heroine. Despite being face with extreme circumstances up

on top of that 35 meter crane, she kept in good spirits with a warm heart, and was always

filled with gratitude. Thinking of her brave deeds, I realized that she went up to the crane

prepared to face death.

On June 17, when it was announced that state force would be mobilized to suppress the protest, it appeared to me that she could really die. I stayed up all night with friends sending

tweets to the foreign news with a desperate heart. Many people voluntarily translation the

news of the suppression and her of Kim Jinsuk’s struggle. As a result, the scene of hired

thugs beating up worker4s was broadcasted by the foreign media. As a result, the

mobilization of force, which might have cost Kim Jinsuk her life, was discontinued.

Kim Jinsuk hangs perpetually in the balance between life and death. Her story could have

ended in tragedy. There was a dramatic turn of events, however, when one poet proposed the

Hope Bus. Kim Jinsuk’s story became the story of countless common but beautiful citizens

who hoped to protect her while she carried out her lonely struggle on the crane.

Climbing Over the Wall.\



On June 11, 2011, over 700 citizens scrambled over the wall at the Hanjin Heavy Industries

and Construction’s Young-do shipbuilding yard, despite it being completely blocked off by

police and hired thugs. To do so, they climbed rope ladders lowered down to them by Hanjin

union members. They had not been ordered to do so by any one, but instead gathered

voluntarily with the help of twitter. The actress Kim Yeojin, who came to know Kim Jinsuk

through Twitter, was among the participants.

Kim Yeojin came directly from finishing the shooting of a drama series to express her

support for Kim Jinsuk and appealed to Hanjin Chairman Cho Namho's conscience to

guarantee her safety.

Actress Kim Yeojin's appeals moved the hearts of many people. All those people climbed

over the walls so they could hold up signs which read, “WE LOVE YOU."

Hundreds of people raised their arms and made the shape of hearts under Crane #85.

They painted a large picture with the words "Humans are flowers", and hung the picture on

crane along with a picture of the crane transformed into a robot. They danced and playedgames at the shipyard.

That day, for the first time in a long while, Kim Jinsuk laughed.

For most of her life, Kim Jinsuk could not make decisions about her life on her own. She was

trampled down by the capitalist system. Every day she fought with clenched teeth to resist

becoming accustomed to being downtrodden. That day she commented, “Eventually the day

like today do come after all.” That was the best day of her life, she said. And she said that

after that day she knew she would be able to come off of the crane alive, despite the fact that

she had been prepared to die when she first went up. The volunteer supporters spent the

whole night at Young-do shipyard came out the next day together with the union members.

A burly union member who one would not have thought could cry, burst into tears while

hugging one of the supporters.



That day came Kim Yeojin was arrested by the police. So far over 300 citizens have receivedsummons related to charges of breaking and entering and violations of the protest law.

Fighting the Police

On July 9, over ten thousand people arrived at Young-do. At first, it didn’t seem possible that

185 buses would arrive. It was a miracle! With the Hope Bus story being tweeted and

retweeted, people across the country rose up in a nationwide movement to meeting Kim

Jinsuk. Over 10,000 citizens marched towards Busan Grand Bridge.

The police blocked the participants who were on their way to Crane #85 at Young-do Hanjin

shipyard.

93 squads of a total of some 7000 police were mobilized to protect this one private company.

The police blasted the demonstrators who refused to disburse with water cannons, the water

laced with liquid tear gas.

The police, armed with anti-terror equipment, pushed the demonstrators back with their

shields. The demonstrators were barehanded. Those who got behind the police lines werearrested.

Fighting the Mainstream Media

It was a staggering blow when I took a casual glance at the articles that came out after the

first round Hope Bus events.

The articles were in summary form with title like, “Rioters from third party labor groups

illegally enter shipyard and clash with police and hired forces. Some wounded."The citizens I had seen were normal people who helped one another when help was needed.

They had rallied to help Kim Jinsuk.

Before the second Hope Bus took off on June 27, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction

Union leadership secretly signed a unilateral agreement with the Hanjin management, all the

while preventing ordinary union members from entering the meeting location.



Based on one press release sent by E-mail, all the TV news stations and newspapers reported

that," the Hanjin labor dispute was dramatically resolved."

It was a moment that seemed to deliver a death sentence to the struggle.

Directly after these reports, the Hanjin management of the company proudly mobilized hired

private security forces who promptly cleared the shipyard of the union members who had

been conducting a sit-in protest there.

As soon as they got word of the situation, many people active on Tweeter began sending the

news to the foreign press, revealing the truth. Al Jazeera was the first to report that, "Hanjin

and the union have finally reached a settlement, but have one so without the consent of the

membership.”

The Hanjin management succeeded in removing all protesting union members from the

shipyard, leaving only Kim Jinsuk and a few workers on crane no. 85. Then they announced

that the strike over. They failed, however, to bring Kim Jinsuk down from the crane. This was

because common citizens gathered and blocked this from happening. Eventually, word got

out that the agreement between the union and management was illegitimate. In the wake of

these incidents solidarity for Kim Jinsuk grew even stronger. More than 10,000 citizensvisited Busan during the second Hope Bus.

The second Hope Bus involved peaceful protest. One article written by a conservative

reporter, described the rally as a riotous assembly at which 70 steel pipes and 20 wooden logs

were discovered. Given the doubtful content of this report, I checked with the policy myself

and learned that these items had nothing to do with the protesters. Intentionally distorted

reports like this one have continued to come out.

The third Hope Bus was held. This time, there was a head-on confrontation between the

police and demonstrators. Security check points reminiscent of martial law were all around.

But the protesters rallied peacefully. Approximately 15,000 people gathered and were able to

break through multiple layers of police lines. Finally, after having been negatively biased, the

press reported neutrally.



And then, after several weeks, the reporting took a positive turn. Some conscientious KBS

TV producers broadcasted an investigative documentary about the battle at the Hanjin

shipyard.

The KBS program uncovered that Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction had carried out

mass layoffs despite the fact that there was no legitimate financial or managerial reason for

doing so. It also included an image of the company president fumbling while he tried to

explain why Hanjin had paid 17.4 billion Won in dividends to major shareholders at the same

time the layoffs were going on. This was the first time the details of the unjust layoffs were

aired on Korean TV. The laid off union members and their supporters applauded the show.

In meantime, many people spontaneously translated the news and sent it on tweeter and by e-

mail to the foreign press. Their endeavors finally came to fruition. Starting with Aljazeera the

foreign press, including Le Monde, BBC and CNN picked up the story of the protest on the

35-meter-high shipyard crane. Global solidarity was at last accomplished.

The Hanjin problem received great attention from the public, the foreign press and the localmedia. Three Hope Bus events were successful. This attention began to gain influence in

politic circles until finally even the ruling party had to react.

At last, on August 18 Cho Namho, Chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction

was called to appear at a hearing before the National Assembly. This was the first time in 14

years that the National Assembly summoned a chairman of one of Korea’s powerful family-

owned conglomerates (Chaebols). During the 10 hour hearing, the National Assembly

recognized the illegitimacy of the layoffs at the shipyard. Cho Nam-ho offered an apology for

the late Kim Jooik, Kwahk Jaegyu and Park Changsoo who died at Hanjin shipyard. The

apology came 8 years after their deaths.

In this way, the world was changed.

Break through the Matrix



In the end, the story of the crane #85 that I have come to know is not a political story. It is a

story about life and about human beings. It is a story about a female worker who climbed a

high shipyard crane so as to keep a promise she made in the face of a fellow workers’ death.

It is also a story about an actress who rushed to the spot beneath the crane in a desperate

attempt to save that female workers’ life. And, it is a story about tens of thousands of

nameless and faceless citizens who voluntarily chose to love although nobody told them to.

This will to protect others has broken through the dense matrix of this society. For this reason,

the story of the Hope Bus is a story of courage and humanity—a love story.

But, this movie is not over yet. Kim Jinsuk is still up on the 35-meter-high crane #85. The

Hanjin management still refused to back down. The right wing press and Busan City still

oppose the Hope Bus, fearing it will be disgrace during the 16th Busan International Film

Festival (BIFF). But the best film showing at the Busan International Film Festival, will be

right here at the Hanjin Young-do shipyard. That’s right. That move is still going on right

here.

Let me make a suggestion, then. You movie goers, camera people, filmmakers. Why don’t allof you come here and help me complete this living breathing screenplay.

Documents

Sungmi Park's Commentary (in English)