Lee Young-joo, the former general secretary of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), was arrested on 27 December 2017 as she left the headquarters of the ruling Democratic Party where she had been staging a hunger strike for ten-days in protest at the amendments to the Labour Standards Act. She was taken to hospital, where she was questioned by police. On 30 December, at the request of the prosecutor, a detention order was issued, and she was moved to the Seoul detention centre.
Lee had previously been staying at the KCTU office for two years, after an arrest warrant was issued for her activities as general secretary of the organisation, and particularly her role in organising the People’s Mass Mobilisation on 14 November 2015 against the repressive labour reforms of the former government of President Park Geun-hye.
Han Sang-gyun, the president of the KCTU, has been held at the same detention centre on virtually identical charges related to the organisation of the mass mobilisation.
At the beginning of February 2018 both Lee and Han were still in prison.