Thursday 25 June 2015

Deplorable State of S. Korean Workers Disclosed

  Pyongyang, June 24 (KCNA) -- The National Reunification Institute issued a white paper Wednesday disclosing the miserable state of south Korean workers attributable to the puppet forces' unpopular rule.
    The number of the unemployed has shown an exponential increase in recent years, becoming a serious social problem, the white paper said, and went on:
    The number was over 3.5 million in 2013 which rose to at least 4.5 million in 2014 and more than 500 000 of them gave up employment. And the number of underemployed increased to 10 million from 8 million in the period.
    What is all the more serious is the problem of jobless young people.
    Earlier this year the rate of young people without job was 21.8 percent, an increase from the time of massive unemployment that was caused by group bankruptcy after 1997 currency run. The rate was estimated to be higher than the average unemployment rate among the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and regions.
    University graduates without jobs showed a record high of 2.75 million.
    The severity of youth unemployment in south Korea can be seen in the fact that youth are giving up love, marriage and childbirth plus housing and getting relations with people.
    This notwithstanding, the present chief executive is enticing young people into going abroad, saying they can get jobs only when they go abroad.
    But young south Koreans only meet national humiliation and contempt and miserable death.
    The proportion of part-time workers under less than a year contract has reached 37.1 %, the highest among major capitalist countries and in the region.
    What is all the more deplorable is the pervasive "status system" which says children with part-time worker parents have to be part-timers.
    The white paper revealed the fact that south Korean workers are doing labor under extremely poor working conditions.
    According to data underreported by the south Korean relevant authorities, the number of victims of industrial disaster was over 90 900 or more than 240 on a daily average across south Korea last year and among them the number of those who suffered from accidents were more than 83 200 and victims of occupational disease by harmful materials were over 7 600.
    The mortality rate due to industrial disaster topped the world list being 2 or 4 times higher than that in major capitalist countries.
    CNN in an article introducing south Korea in August last year said weekly work hours of workers in south Korea is 12 hours longer than an average work hours of people in other parts of the world, adding daily sleeping hours of south Korean workers are less than six hours.
    Yet, they fail to get even the minimum wages for doing hard work.
    In south Korea where the jungle law prevails, employment crime whereby the rights of workers are mercilessly violated is ubiquitous.
    What is all the more serious is that teenagers, the disabled and women are taken as "labor force easy to be hired with meager wage".
    Child labor is internationally banned but teenagers are subject to harsh forced labor in south Korea today.
    74.2 percent of teenagers working in the service fields in Seoul are doing slave labor without contract. Exploitation of the disabled is making people tremble with horror as it is beyond human imagination.
    According to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the rate of women taking part in economic activities and their employment rate, ages 25 to 54, are 62.8 percent and 61.2 percent each, the lowest among the member countries and in the region.
    What is all the more problematic is the serious sexual violence committed against women workers at work sites.
    In March this year the British magazine Economist ridiculed at the worst discrimination against south Korean women in the world.
    A broad segment of the toiling masses of south Korea are protesting against the present authorities' unpopular labor policy that benefits the big businesses.
    More than 20 workers committed suicide unable to stand suppression of trade unions and lay-off after the present regime took office.
    Workers are staging sit-ins, risking their lives.
    Getting all the more fierce is protest of workers against the unpopular rule by the authorities keen on intensifying suppression.
    All facts go to clearly prove that south Korea is the world's worst tundra of human rights and a dark society where democracy and human rights can not be found.
    However, the present south Korean ruling quarters slander the most advantageous labor system in the DPRK where genuine popular policies are enforced and speak ill of those who are working abroad with an intention to be helpful to the system. This is a ridiculous provocative act.
    The puppet forces should clearly understand that their anti-DPRK "human rights" racket in collusion with outsiders will precipitate their destruction. -0-

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