The decision to disband and illegalise the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) has been annulled by the Supreme Court of Korea. The government had ordered the delegalisation of the organisation in 2013.
KTU lost its legal status seven years ago on the grounds that it had allowed nine dismissed teachers to keep their union membership, said Hyunsu Hwang, international director of the KTU.
This Supreme Court decision on 3 September 2020 follows an appeal filed by the KTU to rulings against it by lower courts in June 2014 and January 2016.
In his conclusions on the ruling in favour of the KTU, Chief Justice Kim Myeong-soo invoked several times the Korean constitution and international labour standards allowing all workers to enjoy basic trade union rights.
