Corea, República de - KTU legal status and leader under attack from government authorities:

In October 2013, the government outlawed the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU) due to its repeated refusal to deny membership to fired teachers. In a ruling in June 2014, the Seoul Administrative Court approved the decision, depriving the KTU of its 14-year-old status as a legal trade union. The court said the KTU could only retrieve its status by nullifying the membership of dismissed educational workers, who, according to Article 2 of the Labour Relations Act, cannot join unions. The teachers’ group took to the streets to protest the court’s decision. In response, the Ministry of Education (MOE) ordered KTU members to return to their schools or otherwise face stern consequences. On 27 June 2014, about 1500 of members of the KTU left work early to demonstrate against the government’s decision. It also presented a petition signed by 12,000 of its members, calling for President Park Geunhye to step down. On 15 July 2014, police seized KTU’s website servers as part of an investigation into alleged illegal political activity by its members. The education ministry said it had filed charges against some 107 KTU members who were in charge of organising the protests and petition, claiming that the action ‘damaged the political neutrality of education’. The ILO has urged the Korean government to repeal the provision from its legislation through its various committees. In September 2014, Judge Min Joon-gi of the Seoul High Court granted the KTU an injunction allowing it to retain its legal status until an appeal was decided. His Honour also accepted a request that the Constitutional Court review whether Article 2 of Labour Relations Act was in accordance with the country’s Constitution, observing: «The article possibly goes against the principle of excessive prohibition ensured under the Constitution and infringes upon teachers’ rights to organisation and equality.» Days earlier, a Seoul district court rejected request by the state prosecutor to order the arrest of KTU chief Kim Jeong-hoon, who was being investigated for allegedly violating the nation’s public servants law. The law prohibits civil servants, including public school teachers, from taking part in political activities, such as holding rallies or voicing their political opinions in public. Kim allegedly wrote posts denouncing President Park Geun-hye on the website of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in breach of the National Public Service Law, prosecutors said.The KTU head is also accused of infringing on the law by making online posts demanding the truth about April’s ferry disaster and criticising the government for its poor response, they said. The prosecution further alleges that the union leader led an early leave of absence by some 1,500 KTU members on June 27 in protest of a government decision to turn the KTU into an outsider union for accepting dismissed teachers as its members. «There is not enough reason to detain (Kim) at the present stage after reviewing the evidence and investigation process,» Yoon Gang-yeol, a judge from the Seoul Central District Court, said of the reasons for the court’s decision.