During the ITUC’s world conference last month, Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor Executive Director Christopher Mung met with Yang Kyeung-soo, President of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). KCTU is the second largest union confederation in South Korea, representing 1.13 million members in the country.
Yang was deeply concerned by the detention of trade union leaders and the crackdown on trade union activity in Hong Kong. Here’s a message he sent to Hong Kong workers.
Last year, when I was imprisoned for organising a mass rally to deliver the workers’ demands under the Pandemic in a bigger voice, the international solidarity made me stay strong.
Now it is time to strengthen our solidarity for an immediate release of Hong Kong Labour activists, including former HKCTU Chairperson Carol Ng, General Secretary Lee Cheuk Yan and former HAEA Chairperson Winnie Yu, who are in prison for exercising their fundamental rights guaranteed by the international human rights and labour standards.
Being a trade unionist is our inalienable right. When we are deprived of our rights, we can take it back through our struggle. However, if we give up our rights, we lose our dignity.
Stand with Hong Kong workers!
Let’s fight until we win!
Yang Kyeung-soo
President, Korean Confederation of Trade Union
