“I want lamb chops”
“I wonder what 20 billion won lamb chops taste like”
translation:
“On the historic anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, an event called ‘5.18 Tank Day’ that mocks the blood soaked struggle of the victims and citizens of Gwangju…
How many innocent people died unjustly that day? How severe was the destruction of justice and history caused by it? What kind of twisted resentment could lead someone to do something like this?
I am furious at this inhuman and disgraceful behavior from low class profiteers who deny the values of the South Korean community, basic human rights, and democracy itself.
They should be made to bear the appropriate moral, administrative, legal, and political responsibility for this.”
Have they even apologized to the bereaved families and victims of May 18?”
SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- The head of Starbucks Korea was dismissed Monday after the coffee chain faced strong backlash over a promotional event that evoked painful memories of South Korea's military rule on a pro-democracy movement anniversary, Shinsegae Group said.
Son Jung-hyun, head of SCK Company, which operates Starbucks Korea under E-Mart, was fired hours after the coffee franchise launched its "Tank Day" online promotional event, which offered discounts on "Tank" tumbler sets along with the phrase, "Put it on the table with a sound of 'Tak!'"
The event quickly drew criticism from civic groups and online users, who argued that the word "tank" recalled the military vehicles deployed by martial law troops during the uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju on May 18, 1980, while the phrase "tak" was seen as evoking the 1987 torture death of student activist Park Jong-chol.
Hours later, Starbucks Korea suspended the promotional event and issued an apology to those who were involved in the nation's democracy movement, including victims of the Gwangju uprising and the bereaved family of Park.
Shinsegae Group, the retail conglomerate that owns E-Mart, moved quickly to contain the controversy as criticism over the event intensified, with some consumers calling for a boycott.
According to the company, Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin notified Son of his dismissal and ordered disciplinary measures against those involved in planning and approving the marketing event.
Critics also said the phrase "tak" evoked the infamous explanation surrounding the 1987 torture death of student activist Park. The incident later became a major catalyst for the country's democracy movement against then President Chun Doo-hwan, who ordered troops to quash demonstrators during the 1980 Gwangju uprising.
At the time, police claimed Park died after investigators struck a desk with a "tak" sound, prompting him to collapse with an "eok" sound -- an explanation that later became a widely criticized symbol of the military regime's attempts to conceal torture and state violence.
A civic group supporting victims and bereaved families of the Gwangju uprising accused Starbucks Korea of "damaging the spirit of the democracy movement through a shallow understanding of history."
"We strongly condemn Starbucks Korea and urge the company to provide a proper explanation and apology," the group said in a statement.
Later in the day, President Lee Jae Myung, who visited Gwangju for a commemorative event marking the democracy movement, also slammed Starbucks Korea for holding the "Tank Day" event on a day associated with victims of military rule and the pro-democracy movement.
"I am outraged by the inhumane behavior of profiteers who deny the values of the Republic of Korea, fundamental human rights and democracy," Lee wrote on social media platform X, referring to South Korea by its official name.
The 민주화운동기념관, or Democracy and Human Rights Memorial Hall, is a museum and memorial in Seoul built around the former 남영동 대공분실, a notorious interrogation center used by South Korea’s military dictatorships to imprison and torture pro-democracy activists
Rather than erase the site, it was preserved as a reminder of the brutality faced by democracy activists during one of the darkest periods in modern Korean history. Today, its preserved interrogation rooms and memorial exhibits honor victims such as 박종철 (Park Jong-cheol) and 김근태 (Kim Geun-tae), whose suffering became symbols of Korea’s fight for democracy
Students, workers, and everyday citizens stood side by side in the streets, facing soldiers and weapons with nothing but courage. The military crackdown was brutal, and many innocent lives were lost, leaving scars that are still felt today. Even so, Gwangju became something bigger than the tragedy itself, a lasting symbol of sacrifice, dignity, and the quiet but unbreakable will of people who refused to stay silent under dictatorship
Misinformation and disparagement of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement increased significantly last year, despite a 2021 law aimed at punishing distortions and defamatory claims about the uprising, according to reports Sunday.
An artificial intelligence-based analysis by the May 18 Foundation found more than 5,100 online posts and comments containing what it judged to be distortions or disparaging claims about the pro-democracy movement between February and November 2025.
In one high-profile case, former celebrity history instructor Jeon Han-gil claimed on his YouTube channel that “the May 18 Movement was an insurrection led by the DJ group and North Korea,” referring to a political group centered around former President Kim Dae-jung.
Commemorative groups say such claims inflict secondary harm on victims, survivors and their families.
“It has been 46 years since the movement, but the wounds continue to this day without social healing, and victims are still suffering,” the May 18 Foundation said.
“Further tolerance and neglect cannot be justified. The law must be strictly enforced.”
Monday marks the 46th anniversary of the movement. On May 18, 1980, Gwangju residents rose against Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, who had seized power the previous year in a coup after President Park Chung-hee died, and ultimately became president himself in August 1980.
During the nine-day uprising, more than 200,000 people took to the streets. Hundreds were killed or wounded as troops carried out one of the most brutal crackdowns in South Korea’s modern history.
In an analysis of online posts and comments in 2025, the May 18 Foundation identified 5,182 as disparaging or distortionary about the movement, up nearly 200 percent from 1,728 cases in 2024.
Among major platforms, YouTube saw the steepest on-year increase, with such content rising 538 percent from 34 cases in 2024 to 217 in 2025.
DC Inside, a major South Korean online forum, had the highest number of such posts and comments at 2,677, followed by Naver News with 1,028 and the far-right forum Ilgan Best with 737.
The most common type of distortion identified by the analysis involved calling the May 18 Democratization Movement “a riot,” with 1,643 cases. Claims that the list of May 18 merit recipients had been falsified followed with 1,031 cases, while claims that the North Korean military had intervened accounted for 569 cases.
Individual cases have also drawn attention to the lack of effective regulation on social media.
Earlier this month, some posts circulated on Instagram claimed the May 18 movement was orchestrated by Pyongyang, using documents falsely presented as being by the US Central Intelligence Agency. These claims were debunked by South Korea's Defense Ministry in 2013 and again by a state investigation committee in 2024.
One far-right organization used an AI-generated animated film to promote the unproven theory that North Korean agents infiltrated Gwangju in May 1980 and later became part of South Korea’s establishment.
“Cases in which posts containing hate comments and historical distortions are left unattended for long periods on major domestic and international online platforms are on the rise,” Choi Kyung-hoon, an official at the May 18 Foundation, told local daily Hankyoreh.
“Further measures are needed to hold platforms responsible for content management.”
Why the law is ineffective
A 2021 amendment to the Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement added a provision that punishes the dissemination of false information about the movement.
Under the law, those who spread misinformation about the movement can face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won ($33,400).
But only 21 cases were sanctioned in 2025. The annual number of cases punished has remained below 30 since the amendment was introduced.
Police told local news agency News1 last year that there are practical difficulties in cracking down on misinformation related to the movement, especially online.
Evidence can be difficult to secure once a post is deleted, and a shortage of manpower makes real-time monitoring of such offenses challenging.
Far-right rallies
More than 200 protesters gathered Saturday for a pro-Yoon Suk Yeol rally on Geumnam-ro in Gwangju, the six-lane road that served as a central rallying site during the May 18 movement.
The protesters waved Korean flags and shouted slogans such as “We are Yoon Suk Yeol” and “Wake up, Gwangju,” just a few hundred meters from a venue where a commemorative rally for the May 18 movement was scheduled to take place hours later.
Organizers of the pro-Yoon rally said the gathering was not intended to disparage the movement, but some speeches by rallygoers echoed negative talking points about the movement.
One rallygoer claimed that “the benefits given to May 18 merit recipients are excessive,” while another said, “What is a riot if not citizens robbing a police armory?” referring to citizens taking up arms after the military’s violent crackdown.
The rally led to clashes. Some residents used megaphones to protest against the rallygoers, and a commemorative group that had been handing out food confronted the protesters before police intervened.
A report prepared by an American human rights group after Chun Doo-hwan ordered the brutal suppression of an uprising in Gwangju in 1980 has resurfaced 46 years later. The report denounced Chun’s dictatorship for its atrocities and predicted its fall, declaring that “ultimately the people will prevail.”
Choi Yong-joo, a former researcher for the May 18 Foundation, gave the Hankyoreh “Reports from Kwangju” (another spelling for Gwangju), which was published by the North American Coalition for Human Rights in Korea in September 1980, shortly after the massacre that May.
The 23-page report documents the Korean government forces’ brutality in Gwangju through reports by journalists, excerpts of witness accounts, a statement by students of Chosun University, a chronology of events in Gwangju and photographs of the victims.
A section titled “A Korean Journalist’s Account” detailed the events witnessed by an anonymous Korean reporter who was in Gwangju at the time. The reporter said that when soldiers started firing on May 21, citizens gathered firearms from the nearby town of Hwasun in an effort to fight back.
“[Claiming that students were armed first] is another thing which has been misrepresented by the Seoul newspapers. The students’ taking of guns was very clearly a response to the slaughter which had already been started by the army,” the reporter said.
The same reporter describes meeting Yoon Sang-won, the spokesperson for the civilian militia who was killed during the fighting at the former South Jeolla Provincial Office. While speaking with Yoon following a press conference for foreign correspondents on May 26, the day before government forces stormed the provincial office, the reporter said he’d “complained to [Yoon] that it wasn’t Korean reporters who didn’t report things, but the government that didn’t let them be printed.”
The reporter recalled feeling “very strange” after seeing Yoon’s dead body the next day and spotting the business cards of several foreign correspondents in his shirt pocket.
US declines to mediate despite appeals of Gwangju citizens
The report includes a lengthy witness account titled “The Torn and Tattered Flag,” as well as excerpts compiled from the testimony and journal entries of Korean citizens and non-Koreans residing in Gwangju at the time. These accounts describe handing out food and donating blood to the wounded, as well as frustration with how the people of Gwangju were being falsely represented as rioters.
The events described in the chronology imply American culpability in failing to stop the massacre. On May 26, Gwangju citizens asked the US to “help negotiate a truce,” but the following day, the US State Department refused to mediate, saying, “We recognize that a situation of total disorder and disruption in a major city cannot be allowed to go on indefinitely.”
“Since the massacre in May, 1980, Kwangju has entered the political vocabulary of Korean history together with the Tonghak rebellion of the 1890s, the March First Independence Movement of 1919, and the Student Revolution of 1960. As long as the Korean people continue to hope and to struggle for the right to determine their own destiny, the sacrifices of those who died in Kwangju this summer will be remembered,” Peggy Billings, chair of the North American Coalition for Human Rights in Korea, wrote in the introduction.
“Yet the story of Kwangju is not finished. The bestiality of the military’s action has left a residue of hatred and distrust which will undoubtedly erupt, sooner or later,” Billings said.
“Ultimately the people will prevail and find the only solace for those lost in Kwangju — rule by law and by the willing participation of the people.”
Choi, the researcher, came upon this report in the Collection on Democracy and Unification in Korea at the East Asian Library at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2018. He shared the report to commemorate the death last month of Pharis Harvey, an American minister involved in the North American Coalition for Human Rights in Korea who devoted himself to raising awareness of what had happened in Gwangju.
“Harvey was one of three foreigners who contributed to Korea’s democratization in the 1970s and 1980s, along with Rev. George Ogle and Father James P. Sinnott, who spoke the truth about the People’s Revolutionary Party incident,” Choi said.
“This report was sent to the US Congress in an attempt to hold the US accountable. Since it was composed in great haste, its tally of the dead is inconsistent with more recent counts. But these non-Koreans’ noble efforts to raise awareness about Gwangju deserve to be remembered.”
Over half of Korean voters believe that the ruling party bloc should win in the upcoming local elections on June 3 for the sake of stable governance, a new poll has found.
According to a voter panel survey commissioned by the Hankyoreh and the Korean Association of Party Studies, 53.3% respondents said that many candidates from the liberal ruling bloc should be elected in the upcoming election.
That compares to only 34.1% of respondents who reported wanting to see the opposition conservative bloc win and keep the administration in check, making for a margin of 19.2 points.
The survey was conducted May 6-10 with 1,701 respondents, 9.8% of whom stated that they did not have a strong opinion. The survey was conducted in part to commemorate the Hankyoreh’s 38th anniversary on Friday.
Support for the Democratic Party of Korea (48.9%) far surpassed that for the People Power Party (23.8%). Particularly notable is the Democratic Party’s 40.2% approval rating in the traditionally conservative Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province areas, besting the PPP, which trailed behind at 30.1%.
When asked which party’s candidate they would vote for in the mayoral or gubernatorial races in their own district, 51.3% respondents stated they would pick the Democratic Party candidate, more than double that of those who said they would vote for the PPP candidate (23.7%) — a gap of 27.6 points.
That made for a wider gap between support for the ruling party and opposition party in terms of voting intentions for local government heads than in the previous wave of the survey, which was conducted Dec. 17-21, 2025.
In the third wave, there was a 19.7 percentage point difference between the two parties, with 46.7% respondents saying they would vote for the Democratic Party and 27.0% for the PPP.
When asked to project who they thought would win the election, regardless of their own preference for a certain party, 65.4% respondents estimated that Democratic Party candidates would emerge victorious, three times the percentage of those who predicted that PPP candidates would win (19.0%).
These results seem to reflect the high approval rating enjoyed by President Lee Jae Myung. When asked if they believed that Lee was adequately fulfilling his duties as president, 66.9% respondents said that they thought he was doing a good job, more than twice the rate of those who stated that he was doing a poor job (28.7%).
Of those surveyed, 71.5% stated that they would definitely vote in the June 3 local elections, while 18.8% stated that they would make the effort to vote.
A same-sex couple has filed a human rights petition after one partner was denied marriage leave, raising questions over whether employers can withhold workplace benefits from same-sex couples in the absence of legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea told the local daily Hankyoreh on Tuesday that it received the petition on Oct. 30, 2025, and has completed its investigation. The case is currently under deliberation before a formal decision is made, the commission said.
It is believed to be the first human rights petition in South Korea alleging discrimination over marriage leave for a same-sex couple.
The petitioner, 33, applied for five days of marriage leave last year ahead of his wedding ceremony with his 36-year-old partner, whom he had been dating for two years. He submitted a wedding invitation as proof of the wedding.
“I thought my request would be approved with just the wedding invitation, because other employees who got married were able to take special leave by submitting only their invitations,” the petitioner said.
The institution’s employment rules list “marriage” as a condition for special leave, but do not specify what type of marriage qualifies or what documents are required as proof.
However, the institution rejected the petitioner’s request. It marked his absence as unauthorized leave and deducted the corresponding amount from his wages and performance bonus.
The petitioner claimed the measures amounted to discrimination and filed a petition with the NHRCK.
“As a public institution, my workplace should have made its decision based on its employment rules, but the rules on marriage leave contain no provisions on gender or documents proving the legal validity of a marriage,” the petitioner said.
“Approving other employees’ leave based only on wedding invitations, while refusing to approve mine, is clear discrimination,” he added.
The institution told Hankyoreh that, because its internal rules do not contain any special exception, it interpreted marriage in line with Korea’s Civil Act, which is understood as recognizing marriage as a union between a man and a woman. It was therefore determined that same-sex marriage did not meet the conditions for special leave.
This is not the first time same-sex couples have been excluded from employee benefits in South Korea.
In 2022, the NHRCK dismissed a petition filed by a public official who sought bereavement leave after the death of the father of the official’s same-sex partner. In that case, however, the commission took into account that opposite-sex couples in common-law relationships were also ineligible for family event leave under the relevant rules.
The NHRCK said in 2022 that discrimination arising from gaps in the existing legal system should be addressed through legislation.
But some argue that discrimination in workplace welfare programs should be corrected regardless of whether same-sex marriage has been legalized, citing recent court rulings.
In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that a same-sex partner could be recognized as a dependent under the National Health Insurance Service, finding that treating same-sex partners differently from heterosexual partners in social security programs violated the constitutional principle of equality.
Roughly 1,300 members of the People Power Party have withdrawn from the party and publicly declared their support for Kim Boo-kyum, the Democratic Party’s preliminary candidate in the Daegu mayoral race.
According to Kim’s campaign on May 10, a group of former ruling party members visited his campaign office and announced that 1,325 registered and general party members had formally left the People Power Party to endorse Kim’s candidacy.
Among those joining the declaration were former Dalseong County Council chairman Ha Yong-ha and former Daegu city council member Park Seong-tae.
Ha, who previously served as chief secretary to former lawmakers Kim Seok-won, Park Geun-hye, and Son Hee-jung, sharply criticized the party leadership and local lawmakers.
“What have Daegu’s National Assembly members, including People Power Party mayoral hopeful Chu Kyung-ho, been doing while Daegu fell to the bottom among metropolitan governments nationwide?” he said.
The defecting members also issued a statement condemning what they described as decades of failed local politics.
“For the past 30 years, Daegu has been neglected by politicians. It has endured arrogant politics in which securing a party nomination all but guaranteed election, and politics that betrayed conservatism while claiming to represent it,” the statement read.
The latest departures follow a similar announcement on May 6, when around 300 registered People Power Party members said they would also leave the party and support Kim, signaling a growing wave of defections ahead of the election.
In Daegu and Gyeongbuk, there has been a growing trend of people leaving the People Power Party and either joining the Democratic Party or openly supporting Democratic Party candidates.
On the 6th, 347 responsible party members of the People Power Party, including Chung Young geun, chairman of Sewoon Korea Co., officially left the PPP and declared their support for Democratic Party Daegu mayoral candidate Kim Boo-kyum. “Responsible party members” refers to members who have voting rights in party decision making. In strongly conservative Daegu, it is unusual for PPP members to publicly leave the party and support a Democratic Party candidate.
The departing members had previously supported former Dong gu mayor Lee Jae man, who lost in the PPP primary for Daegu mayor. They stated:
“After supporting the People Power Party for the past 30 years, we ended up turning Daegu into the worst ranked city in the country. They treated the positions of mayor and National Assembly member not as offices for public service, but as positions to profit from. The PPP treated Daegu citizens like fish already trapped in a net.”
Explaining why they support Kim, they said:
“This is a way to repay, even slightly, for our past mistakes. We are convinced this is the mission we must carry out now for Daegu’s future and for our children. We believe this is the path toward building a healthy conservatism and developing Daegu.”
Former Daegu city council member Kim Gyu hak, originally from the PPP and a three term councilman, also left the PPP last month and joined the Democratic Party. After receiving the Democratic Party nomination, he is running for a fourth term in Daegu’s Buk gu 5th district. He originally joined the conservative New Korea Party in 1991 and had consistently been active in conservative politics.
Kim Gyu hak stated:
“I sympathized with the Democratic Party’s efforts to go beyond regionalism, embrace talent broadly, and create new competition for political change and innovation in Daegu.”
A representative from Kim Boo kyum’s campaign said:
“Now Daegu citizens are making choices for the future based not on ideology, but on practical considerations.”
In North Gyeongsang Province, Na Young min, a three term city council member from the PPP and current chair of the Gimcheon City Council, held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 6th announcing that he would run as the Democratic Party candidate for Gimcheon mayor. After failing to secure the PPP nomination, he had been preparing an independent run before joining the Democratic Party on the 3rd.
Na stated:
“In line with the Lee Jae myung government’s balanced national development strategy, I felt an urgent need for Gimcheon to work together with the government in order to achieve change and growth. That is why I left the PPP and joined the Democratic Party. This choice is not betrayal, but an expansion made for Gimcheon.”
He also said:
“Gimcheon’s governor, National Assembly member, and mayor are all politically opposed to the central government. Under this structure, there are clear limits to securing the budgets and policies we need. Politics should not be about factions, but a tool to improve citizens’ lives. I will end politics based on conflict and division and work for the people of Gimcheon.”
Across Japan, a growing number of people from the MZ generation (born between the 1980s and early 2000s) are taking to the streets with light sticks to defend the country’s constitution. Inspired by Korea’s protest culture — where K-pop songs and idol light sticks are common — so-called “light stick protests” are spreading in Japan as a social phenomenon.
Japanese newspapers Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun on Monday reported on a rally attended my around 50,000 people on Constitution Memorial Day the previous day at Tokyo’s Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park. The protest was staged as an effort to protect Japan's constitution, according to reports. With large crowds and an upbeat atmosphere, the event resembled a festival. Participants chanted slogans such as “Protect the Constitution” and “Quit, quit, (Sanae) Takaichi government,” set to K-pop group KARA’s hit song “Mister.”
K-pop has become an essential element in recent protests across Japan. At rallies held on April 8 and April 19 in front of Japan’s National Diet Building, K-pop music played continuously, creating a concert-like atmosphere. Protesters chanted phrases like “Stop harassing the Constitution” and “Protect Japan’s Constitution” to the beat of aespa’s song “Whiplash.”
The trend is not limited to Tokyo. On the evening of April 26, a rally called “No War! YES Article 9 Joint Action Osaka Penlight (Light Stick) Gathering” was held at Osaka Station. There, the Korean lyrics of Girls’ Generation’s “Into the New World” echoed through the plaza. The song became symbolic of youth protests in Korea after students at Ewha Womans University sang it during a 2016 campus occupation, and it has since become a staple at Japanese demonstrations as well.
A series of recent anti-government protests in Japan were triggered by events including the Feb. 9 lower house election and the March 19 Japan-U.S. summit. After securing a landslide victory, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed strong support for constitutional revision. At the same time, discussions over dispatching Japanese defense forces to the Strait of Hormuz amid tensions in the Middle East heightened public concern about preserving Japan’s pacifist identity.
K-pop has played a key role in drawing young Japanese protesters to these demonstrations. Many posts on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) encourage participants to bring light sticks, signaling that anyone can join casually, as if supporting their favorite idols. A self-employed man in his 30s who attended an April 8 rally near the National Diet Building said, “In Japan, there’s usually a high barrier to participation for people in their 20s and 30s, but many came out voluntarily with light sticks.” A woman in her 20s who attended the Osaka rally told Asahi that the presence of participants drawing or knitting made it easier for others to join without pressure.
The flags seen at these protests also evoke Korean demonstrations. At the April 8 rally, banners featured fictional group names such as “Union of People Who Just Add to the Crowd,” “Alliance of People Who Struggle in Crowds” and “Association of Low-Stamina People Against War.” These playful names reflect the idea of ordinary citizens lending their presence to social causes. Mainichi noted that many participants were inspired by Korean civic movements, and that such flags demonstrate how individuals not affiliated with formal organizations can still participate without feeling intimidated.
On the quiet morning of March 20 at Incheon International Airport, the head of a government agency responsible for administering industrial accident insurance stood before a memorial adorned with flowers and a photo of Nguyen Van Tuan, a 23-year-old Vietnamese worker who died 10 days earlier in a conveyor belt accident at a gravel factory in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.
As president of the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (K-COMWEL), Park Jong-kil bowed deeply, offered flowers and placed his hand on the shoulder of Tuan’s friend who was there to escort his remains home. In halting words bridged by interpreters, Park delivered a letter expressing gratitude for Tuan’s contributions to Korea and offering sympathy.
“The language was different, but the grief was the same,” he recalled in an interview at the agency’s Seoul office on April 23, ahead of Industrial Accident Workers’ Memorial Week (April 28-May 4).
That airport farewell marked the debut of the country’s first pilot scheme expanding funeral support for deceased foreign workers, a benefit the agency is now working to institutionalize through reforms.
Park’s commitment to provide foreign workers with such support stems from a disturbing reality he discovered: Families of migrant workers killed in industrial accidents often abandon their loved ones’ remains here because they cannot afford repatriation costs. The program transformed what would have been a lonely departure into a moment of national recognition, with K-COMWEL preparing memorial spaces with photo displays and quiet rooms for mourning.
Korea’s industrial accident insurance, introduced in 1964 when the country had virtually no foreign workers, currently does not cover repatriation costs or memorial services. K-COMWEL is pushing to expand funeral benefits to include air travel support for families, accommodation costs and cremation and remains transportation expenses.
“Migrant workers are precious members who sustain our industrial sites. They deserve the right to work safely and receive fair compensation,” he said. “I think the level of protection we provide migrant workers demonstrates the strength of our society’s safety net.”
According to Ministry of Employment and Labor data, 605 workers died in industrial accidents last year. Foreign workers, who comprise roughly 3.5 percent of the workforce, accounted for over 10 percent of annual workplace fatalities — a disproportionate death rate that highlights severe safety vulnerabilities.
The initiative is part of K-COMWEL’s broader commitment. Park said the agency’s insurance coverage applies to all workers regardless of immigration status — a crucial message for Korea’s more than 1 million foreign workers, including undocumented laborers who may fear seeking help.
He pointed to a recent case that tested this principle. In February, a Thai worker suffered severe internal injuries when his Korean employer at a factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, allegedly shot a high-pressure air gun. Despite being undocumented, K-COMWEL confirmed he would receive full industrial accident compensation.
“Even undocumented workers are protected,” Park said. “If you’re injured at work, you’re covered, period. Age, legal status — none of it matters.”
His philosophy is shaped by historical memory. Korea, now a destination for foreign workers, was once a labor exporter itself, dispatching nurses and miners to West Germany during the country’s economic development.
“We also experienced the hardships of working overseas,” he said. “That experience should be our standard for treating migrant workers — not as simple labor, but as constituents who deserve respect and equal protection from danger.”
Additonally, Park stressed accident prevention over response. He said K-COMWEL is now eliminating insurance coverage blind spots, expediting compensation decisions and expanding rehabilitation and psychological support for injured workers.
As Korea observes its second Industrial Accident Workers’ Memorial Week since its official designation in 2024, Park pledged sustained commitment.
“We may not have fully understood the difficulties you face working in a foreign country, or the magnitude of grief and suffering from loss and injury,” he said. “To those who lost loved ones to industrial accidents, I offer my deepest condolences. Through systems and policies, we will ensure no injured worker and no bereaved family is left alone. We will stay with you until the end.”
A progressive civic group held a protest rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on Saturday, chanting slogans accusing the United States of interfering in South Korea's domestic affairs.
An estimated 500 protesters, according to police, gathered outside the U.S. Embassy compound in central Gwanghwamun, holding placards condemning the U.S. for undermining South Korea's sovereignty and interfering in its domestic affairs by requesting that Seoul lift an exit ban on Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of K-pop entertainment powerhouse Hybe.
They also charged that the U.S. is "attacking" President Lee Jae Myung because Lee has refused to provide support for its war against Iran and is seeking an early transfer of wartime operational control from the U.S.
They denounced Washington for restricting intelligence-sharing with Seoul on North Korea after taking issue with what it sees as Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's unilateral disclosure of shared intelligence on an unidentified North Korean nuclear facility, as well as for nominating Michelle Park Steel, a conservative former Republican lawmaker, as its new ambassador to South Korea.
The participants from the civic group, "Candlelight Action," had been marching from Jonggak Station before stopping in front of the embassy compound to stage the rally.
Police issued two warnings over loudspeakers, telling them to continue marching, and no clashes occurred as the protesters complied with police instructions.
Hours earlier, around 6,000 protesters affiliated with a conservative group, led by hard-line activist pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, staged a separate demonstration in Gwanghwamun.
They justified ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law as a right that can be exercised by a leader "if the country is in trouble."
South Korea will mark its first Labor Day on Friday, ending more than six decades in which the May 1 holiday was officially known as Workers’ Day.
The change restores the holiday’s Korean name to Nodongjeol, replacing Geulloja-ui Nal, a term adopted in 1963 under an anti-communist government wary of the word “labor.”
The change may appear symbolic, but the name has long carried political, historical and legal weight in South Korea. For labor groups, replacing “Workers’ Day” with “Labor Day” is a step toward recognizing a wider range of people who work, including those outside regular employment.
For critics, the shift risks turning a public holiday into another front in Korea’s politcial divide.
The National Assembly passed a bill renaming the holiday last year, with the Lee Jae Myung administration spearheading the change as part of its push to promote what it calls a labor-respecting society.
The holiday has also been designated an official public holiday from this year, expanding it beyond a paid holiday that had mainly applied to workers covered by the Labor Standards Act.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country’s two largest labor groups, welcomed the name change, saying it marked the beginning of long-overdue labor reforms.
Conservatives, however, have expressed concern that the change could deepen social divisions and create confusion.
“The Democratic Party is only trying to buy votes from the KCTU by invoking anti-Japan sentiment,” a lawmaker from the conservative People Power Party told local media last year, referring to claims that "geullo" is a term created by Japanese colonialists.
Controversial etymology
Although the first recorded commemoration of May Day in Korea dates back to 1923, the term “Workers’ Day” was first officially adopted in 1963.
The Korean word used for “worker” in Workers’ Day, geulloja, is composed of three Hanja characters: geun, meaning diligent; ro, meaning labor; and ja, meaning person. The word roughly translates to “hard-working person.”
The term has long been criticized by some labor advocates for suggesting an ideology of diligence under state or employer control.
In 2025, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Soo-jin claimed that the word geulloja was first created in 1920 as part of Japanese efforts to compel Koreans to work more diligently.
The claim is incorrect. Historians point out that the word was used long before Japanese colonial rule, citing the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, where geulloja appears 22 times and geullo, a related term meaning “diligent work,” appears 199 times.
Korea’s first modern textbook, published in 1895 before Japanese rule, also uses the word geullo.
Beyond its historical origins, critics say the term remains problematic in a contemporary context. Some point to the paradox of defining workers by diligence, while others question why such diligence is demanded of laborers but not of management.
The KCTU has also argued that South Korea’s early authoritarian governments used "worker" to avoid the word "laborer," because they feared the political power of organized labor.
Others argue that the word should not be treated as inherently political, noting that "worker" and "laborer" have at times been used interchangeably by groups across the political spectrum.
Legal definitions and excluded workers
The debate is not only about language. Labor groups say the former name also reflected a narrow legal definition of who counted as a worker.
The Korean name for May Day had been dictated by the Designation of Workers’ Day Act, a short law mandating a paid holiday for those subject to the Labor Standards Act.
Labor groups argued that this led to an overly narrow definition of who was a worker, excluding many people who do not earn regular wages or work under standard contracts.
Household workers, golf course caddies, tutors, delivery workers, daycare providers and freelancers are among those who have often fallen outside full protection under the Labor Standards Act, according to labor organizations.
They argue that May Day, which is meant to recognize all forms of labor, has long overlooked large segments of the workforce under Korea’s legal framework.
Public servants were another group historically excluded from the May 1 holiday. Although they are salaried employees, civil servants are not classified as workers under the Labor Standards Act and are instead governed by the State Public Officials Act.
That meant more than 1 million public officials often continued working on May 1 while many private-sector workplaces closed. The gap created practical difficulties, particularly for dual-income civil servant households with children, as many private daycare centers closed on May 1.
This year’s designation of Labor Day as an official public holiday addresses part of that gap by extending the day off to civil servants and teachers. But labor groups say changing the name and expanding the holiday are only first steps toward creating a more inclusive May Day.
President Lee Jae Myung on Friday pledged unwavering commitment to workplace safety in his address to mark Labor Day at Cheong Wa Dae.
"I will neither compromise nor make concessions on workplace safety," he said, vowing to build a "normal" country where no worker ever has to risk their life at work.
"Safeguarding workers is the most basic responsibility of any nation and any business," he said.
The president also pushed back against the notion that worker welfare and business growth are incompatible, stressing the two are mutually dependent.
"We can only move forward by breaking free from the outdated thinking that being pro-business means being anti-worker," he said. "Growth has a future only when labor stands behind it" he said.
Amid growing concerns that artificial intelligence threatens jobs, the president sought to reassure the public that the government prioritizes people over productivity.
"As technologies advance, the prevailing view is that machines powered by artificial intelligence will largely replace human labor," he said. "But it is not right to ask workers to sacrifice themselves in the name of productivity," he said, adding that growth that leaves workers behind is not growth at all.
Lee called workers "the backbone of our economy," who keep things running on the ground and drive the spending that fuels growth.
It marked the first time a Labor Day event has been held at Cheong Wa Dae. The event brought together some 130 participants, including key figures from labor, management and government, as well as workers from diverse occupations, to mark the occasion.
It also marked the first time two major umbrella labor unions -- the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions -- that are said to hold different political views both took part in such an event.
Korea had initially observed Labor Day on May 1 before it was renamed "Workers' Day" in 1963. The government restored the name to Labor Day last year and designated it as a national holiday earlier this year, allowing all workers to take the day off.
In celebration of Labor Day, a variety of events took place across the country, highlighting the value of work and its role in improving quality of life and driving economic growth. (Yonhap)
She broke her foot, and still had to go to work. While her students were busy taking a test, she had the audacity to sit down, just to take pressure off her broken foot for a moment. Her boss was watching over CCTV, and came in to berate her for this infraction in front of the class.
The teacher, who wished to be identified only as Day, said this experience pushed her to take action.
She joined the Native Teachers' Branch of the Korean General Labor Union (KGLU), which is affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
Originally named "Native English Teachers' Branch" in 2024, the word "English" was removed as the organization grew.
"Now that we've grown, we have native teachers of other languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, that face the issues we face," said Day, who is now chair of the Seoul branch. "We changed the name to reflect that diversity and to be more welcoming to those teachers who need assistance and aid."
She also added that some of the members are Korean nationals, and some aren't even currently teachers. This includes those who are studying for further teaching qualifications so they can get better jobs in the industry, as well as former workers who were pushed out due to pregnancy or marriage.
The union activities of foreign language teachers across the country are organized around two main branches, headquartered in Seoul and Busan.
The Busan branch, named Foreign Language Teachers' Union, oversees Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, the Gyeongsang provinces as well as the southwestern Jeolla provinces, Gwangju and Jeju Island.
The members of the union branches have been active in their communities, participating in labor rallies and other demonstrations. They have been openly advocating for the introduction of an anti-discrimination law, a contentious topic in Korea that has been proposed many times over the decades, but keeps failing due to resistance.
The union does much more than march and give speeches, however. A core of their activities is members' education, strengthening foreign teachers' awareness of their own rights.
"We do a lot of education, such as what exactly are your labor rights," Day said. "A lot of people don't know their rights, even if they've been in Korea a while. The labor law is updated regularly, and translations of the law aren't readily available. That is the kind of thing we regularly do."
They also help with how to negotiate with employers.
"The culture around talking to your boss is different. Especially for new English teachers, they don't necessarily know the most effective way to go about negotiating," Day said. "They'll take a direct approach, but in Korea that can be seen as adversarial, so we're helping them be informed and negotiate well for themselves."
She added that they also spread this information among Koreans, who don't have to deal with issues like immigration and letters of release.
"When Koreans find out about these additional issues, they're very interested and concerned," she said.
Another way the union helps its members is through legal help. Teachers struggling with legal issues at work can come to them to learn how to file a complaint.
Foreign teachers affiliated with the union admit there are fears about employer retaliation.
"Employers get weird about who is in the union," Day said. "We've seen some discrimination and retaliation. It's definitely something to worry about. We're still a small union, so if they fire one union member, there's a dozen more, hundreds more English teachers out there who won't join the union, who won't raise these complaints. We like our schools. We like our students. But we would like to have the protections of full-time workers."
Another common criticism lobbed at the members is that political activities are illegal for foreign residents of Korea. However, while immigration law does ban foreign residents from engaging in political activity, it permits it in certain cases.
"No foreigner sojourning in the Republic of Korea shall engage in any political activity with the exception of cases provided for by this Act or other Acts," the law reads.
According to the union members, foreign nationals have the right to attend and join labor unions, as upheld by multiple Supreme Court and Constitutional Court rulings. This includes a Supreme Court ruling of May 22, 1998, and Article 81 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act.
Day emphasized that the union makes sure to follow the law by refraining from endorsing political candidates or participating in their campaigns. She added that this also meant not attending impeachment rallies against former President Yoon Suk Yeol last year.
"As a whole, we do not go to candidate-specific rallies," she said. "We'll give evidence. We'll give papers and talk to candidates, but we won't endorse a candidate."
Still, foreign unionists often face attitudes that they are not really members of Korean society and are instead just visitors here. But the chairperson of Chungcheong Regional Branch, who gave his name as Austin, disagrees.
“A lot of our members have been here for over a decade, and many have built families and put down roots. We’re not visitors. We are members of Korean society. We attend the local festivals. We mourn alongside Koreans when workers die at work. We also are directly affected by the upholding or violations of labor laws. So we’re going to continue organizing, speaking up and making sure our voices are heard,” he said.
“The bosses and hagwon (private supplemental academy) owners are organized and in association. They recently petitioned Seoul City Hall to abolish the mandatory end times of hagwons in the city. There has been no representation for the workers for over 20 years now. That time has ended.”
Austin said the Chungcheong Regional Branch, a sub-branch of the Seoul Branch, is allied with the Chungnam Workers' Rights Center, which can help teachers find legal representation.
The Seoul branch is currently seeking equivalent routes and options in Seoul, Gangwon and Gyeonggi provinces. However, many nonprofit legal aid organizations are facing funding cuts.
Foreign language teachers are not the first migrant workers to unionize in Korea. They also work closely with the Migrants' Trade Union, founded in 2005, also under the KCTU. Although hagwon teachers face very different conditions to factory workers, the members of the Native Teachers' Branch stressed the need for labor rights across all of society, including for Koreans.
"When we see the abuse and deaths of our fellow teachers and immigrants, our hearts break and we cannot sit still. We may be immigrants but we are humans too. The suffering and deaths of immigrant workers is not something that happens at only one workplace," Day said during a rally of about 200 immigrant workers in downtown Seoul on April 26. "We will not say I am sorry for being sick. It is not a crime to be sick. We will not accept abuse, suffering, trauma and death as the price of employment in Korea."
The Seoul branch will have its "Know Your Rights and Meet the Union" seminar in Suwon May 23, a "Know Your Rights and Anti-Discrimination Legislation" in Seoul June 27, an "Anti-Discrimination Legislation and the Letter of Release" in Siheung July 18, and "Know Your Rights and Letter of Release" in Seoul Aug. 29.
The Chungcheong branch has seminars planned monthly across several cities, intended to share information about the basic labor rights of workers in Korea, the letter of release, enacting an anti-discrimination law and the minimum wage. These seminars will be held for Cheonan-Asan on May 9, Daejeon on June 20, Sejong on July 25, Seosan-Dangjin-Taean on Aug. 22 and Cheongju-Chungju Sept. 19. All are listed at linktr.ee/KGLUNativeTeachersCC.
The seminars are free and legal for all visa types to attend.
Visit u/kglunativeteachers_seoulbranch on Instagram for more information about the Seoul Branch of the KGLU Native Teachers' Union covering Seoul, Gyeonggi and Gangwon, u/nativeteacherunionchungcheong for the Chungcheong provinces, and u/kglu_fle for the Busan Foreign Language Education Branch.
https://ws.or.kr/article/11676
On August 6, 1987, Hyundai Group chairman Chung Ju-yung appeared at Hyundai Heavy Industries. The “king chairman” personally stepped in to stop the workers’ struggles and the formation of democratic unions that had begun spreading through Hyundai Group factories in Ulsan in July.
Workers stormed the company gymnasium, where Chung Ju-yung was lecturing managers, and demanded negotiations. Overwhelmed, he had no choice but to head to the field where around 20,000 workers had gathered.
At that moment, a worker threw dirt at him. This was because Chung had often said, “I will not allow unions until dirt gets into my eyes.”
That summer, when such anger and determination from workers erupted across the country, not only at Hyundai Group but nationwide, the military-style workplace control under the military dictatorship collapsed. In just those three months, over 1,000 democratic unions were newly formed.
Workers who took up the struggle were no longer looked down upon as “factory boys and girls.” They were no longer fools who endured abuse from managers without protest. They no longer had to undergo inspections of clothing and hair at the factory gates or have their hair cut. They no longer had to eat company-provided lunches “mixed with black specks like rat droppings.”
Now they had secured the right to improve wages and working conditions through strikes and labor disputes. As a result, that autumn they won revisions to labor laws, including easing requirements for forming unions and reducing legal working hours by four hours. Over the next three years, they achieved annual wage increases of 10–30 percent.
“Rat droppings”
In fact, since the 1960s, South Korea’s economic growth had been built on the exploitation of workers and the masses by the dictatorship and business owners. The longest working hours in the world, low wages, military-style workplace control, and social contempt were what workers received during the so-called “era of the economic miracle.”
Under dictatorship, it was not easy for workers to independently form unions or improve conditions. Large conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai were able to grow into giants thanks to this repression.
However, as Karl Marx wrote in The Communist Manifesto, “As capital develops… the modern working class develops… The bourgeoisie produces, above all, its own grave-diggers (the working class).”
The dictatorship and business owners suppressed and squeezed workers for economic growth, but that growth created a larger working class and concentrated them in cities and bigger factories. Wage workers, about 7 million in the early years of Park Chung-hee’s rule, grew to over 15 million by the mid-1980s. The so-called “economic miracle” was also growing another giant of modern capitalism: the working class.
Moreover, from 1987, South Korea entered what was called the “greatest economic boom since Dangun.” This provided the conditions for workers, grown both quantitatively and qualitatively, to gain the confidence to fight.
The 1987 democratization struggle did not suffer a backlash from the military like the April 19 Revolution or the 1980 “Spring of Seoul” because this giant had finally begun to stir.
From early in the year to June, the uprising involved liberal opposition parties, militant student movements, and various social groups, making it a “national” struggle. Labor leaders made up less than 5 percent of the leadership of the June uprising’s main coalition.
This was likely due to repression under Chun Doo-hwan. Still, workers’ participation increased steadily during the struggle.
As the German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg pointed out in Mass Strike, the June uprising that pushed back military dictatorship created fertile ground for broader workplace struggles for democracy.
Once the Chun regime retreated, the great workers’ struggle erupted. Workers who had individually participated in the June uprising now sought to bring democracy from the streets into their workplaces. Meanwhile, liberal opposition parties distanced themselves from the workers’ struggle.
Workers, who had gradually developed their movement and consciousness even under dictatorship, sought to improve conditions not through one-off struggles but through building independent unions.
Kim Jin-sook once expressed the desire to build democratic unions:
“Workers cannot give up democratic unions because without them there is nothing to protect themselves… Through that, I was finally able to declare that I too am a worker, that I too am human.”
A decisive turning point came on July 5, when a democratic union was formed at Hyundai Engine in Ulsan. Once the “no-union kingdom” of Hyundai was breached, unionization and struggle rapidly spread to Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Motor.
Democratic unions
When Hyundai attempted to block unionization by creating company-controlled unions, Ulsan workers launched solidarity strikes on August 17–18 and marched en masse through the city.
Facing a procession of 60,000 workers, including families and heavy equipment, even riot police were forced to retreat.
Once the dam burst, workers’ militancy surged uncontrollably. From July to September, more than 30 strikes occurred per day on average. Some statistics say this exceeded all disputes since the mid-1970s combined, or even all disputes since 1961.
Even Kwon Yong-mok, who led unionization at Hyundai, admitted he feared workers might go beyond control.
Given the oppressive conditions, forming unions inevitably led to factory occupations, strikes, and street battles with police. The typical pattern became “strike first, negotiate later.” The defining features of the movement were grassroots spontaneity, militancy, and self-organization.
Through the struggle, large-scale manufacturing workers emerged as the core of the democratic union movement.
Eighty-one percent of participants, about 990,000 people, were manufacturing workers. Ninety percent of disputes in non-union workplaces were also in manufacturing. The movement spread not from the Seoul metropolitan area, but from Ulsan through Busan, Masan, Changwon, and Geoje, and then nationwide.
From late August, the regime shifted to harsh repression. During this period, a Daewoo Shipbuilding worker, Lee Seok-kyu, was killed by a direct tear gas hit.
The working class, newly awakened and inexperienced, could not immediately build nationwide coordination or general strikes against state repression. The struggle began to subside by mid-September.
Nevertheless, its impact was immense. The Chun regime, which had even considered deploying troops in June, ultimately abandoned reaction in the face of the July–September labor uprising. The democratic union movement created a stronghold that made it difficult to reverse democratic gains.
Learning from the struggle, the labor movement continued to advance. Within two years, about 5,000 new unions were formed and 900,000 new members joined. After passing through organizations like the National Council of Trade Unions, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions was established in 1995. It led successful strikes against anti-labor laws in 1996–97 and later pursued political representation, entering parliament in 2004.
Today, as the labor movement faces renewed attacks amid global economic crisis, recalling the experience of 25 years ago is crucial. Workers showed that even under repression, unity and struggle are possible and can win. Through militant struggle, they proved that mass working-class strike movements are the true driving force of change and reform.
What was needed was national-level class politics. In today’s era of capitalist crisis, it is vital for socialists to draw lessons from this history and build organization capable of advancing political struggles.