Karapatan flags similarities in South Korea union raids and local red-tagging

Officials from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) carry a box in front of the headquarters of the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union (KHMU) of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) in Seoul on January 18, 2023, as South Korea's spy agency and police raid the country's main labor union group over alleged pro-Pyongyang activities.

YONHAP / AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Karapatan on Monday joined labor unions in condeming raids by South Korea's government on the offices of workers' groups there under a Cold War-era national security law, with the rights group saying it is reminiscent of red-tagging campaigns in the Philippines.

According to the International Trade Union Confederation, which called the raids "overt aggression and intimidation by the government", South Korea's National Intelligence Service and police searched the offices of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union on January 18 to investigate members with alleged links to North Korea.

In a statement, Karapatan said the raids in South Korea had similarities to government actions in the Philippines, including the "Bloody Sunday" operations in March 2021 where activists and community leaders were killed and the raids on the offices of the National Federation of Sugar Workers and other groups in Bacolod City that led to the arrests of 40 activists. 

Full Story: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/01/30/2241335/karapatan-flags-similarities-south-korea-union-raids-and-local-red-tagging