Two workers from South Korea’s Hydis Technologies were arrested yesterday after a demonstration outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei to protest against their Taiwanese employers.
For the past 10 days, nearly a dozen South Korean union representatives have camped outside the personal residence of Yuen Foong Yu (YFY) Group chairperson Ho Shou-chuan (何壽川).
On the front steps of Ho’s residence, the workers set up a memorial shrine to former Hydis union leader Bae Jae-hyoung, who committed suicide last month after reportedly receiving legal threats from Hydis management.
Photo: CNA
Dressed in a black robe, Bae’s widow, Lee Mi-ra, carried a portrait of her husband as she marched toward the Presidential Office Building during yesterday’s demonstration.
She was accompanied by dozens of Taiwanese labor activists and students, who came to express their support.
Hydis was acquired in 2008 by Taiwanese e-paper manufacturer E-Ink Holdings, a member of the YFY Group.
Despite a series of protests in Taipei earlier this year, E-Ink stood by its decision to cease production in South Korea and dismissed more than 300 employees as planned in April.
During the demonstration, the workers demanded that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration facilitate talks between the union and YFY Group, saying that the company has repeatedly refused to engage in talks with them in Taiwan.
They also demanded that Ma dismiss Ho from his position among the president’s panel of national policy advisers and called for talks on a free-trade agreement between Taiwan and South Korea to be halted before the issue is resolved.
“Do workers still enjoy any dignity at all? After so much time and effort, we have not received any kind of response,” a senior Hydis employee, surnamed Kim, said through an interpreter.
“Under such circumstances, we no longer know whether it is meaningful to live on like this,” Kim said.
Lee Mi-ra and the other union representatives were denied entry to the Presidential Office Building, which refused to accept their petition.
Violent scuffles broke out, resulting in the arrest of two South Koreans and one Taiwanese labor activist.
Two other Taiwanese were arrested outside Ho’s residence when police officers moved in to remove tents erected by labor activists.
Another South Korean activist was placed under medical care after receiving injuries during conflict with police officers.
The workers have vowed to continue their protests outside Ho’s residence until talks with YFY Group take place.
“We will not leave Taiwan until we have a meeting with Yuen Foong Yu,” Korean Confederation of Trade Unions regional branch leader Lee Sang-aun said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS