In May it was reported that Korea’s railway operator Korail and its subsidiary railway scholarship foundation decided to reinstate a provision which disqualifies the children of employees who have been given internal disciplinary action over the past five years from receiving scholarships. This provision drew protests from the workers’ union.
Korail said that this was a previous provision of its scholarship foundation, abolished in April 2009 but reinstated from December 2009. The Korea Railway Workers’ Union (KRWU) said that the provision was specifically established when Korail was taking disciplinary action against unionists who had participated in an eight-day strike in November 2001 to punish the children of the 12,000 union members who joined the strike. The scholarship program offers a maximum of KRW one million per semester for university students. Korail refuted the union’s claim, saying that the provision has been on the books since 2004 and was only removed accidentally.