Corea, República de - Worsening repression of union organising (2010)

A February 2009 fact-finding mission of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Global Union Federation representatives and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD found supporting evidence that precarious workers in Korea continue to be denied the most basic rights, specifically rights to freedom of association, collective bargaining and collective action. The mission also concluded that the trade union rights situation is deteriorating, and that the government has failed to implement recommendations made by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to bring its laws into conformity with core ILO standards, including the use of Korea’s unique “obstruction of business” clause (section 314 of the penal code) to severely limit legitimate trade union activity.