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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.
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(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.\
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.