A worker who was laid off from his job has been engaging in a one-man protest in front of the Supreme Court for 20 days now, and in very cold weather. He is not asking to have his job back. He is asking that his case be brought to an end, that the court does not let it drag on indefinitely, because it has been delaying a judgment as it sits on the lawsuit for now some 35 months. Kim Seok Jin has come all the way from Ulsan for his protest, but again it looks like he will have no answer, because the justice responsible for his case is soon to retire.
When workers are laid off unjustly, it is the courts they go to. Kim knocked on a court's door wanting his rights protected. Kim was laid off in 1997 while a union official at Hyundai Mipo Shipyard, and at the first and second trial the courts ordered him reinstated. The Supreme Court, however, has its ears closed to his desperate call. Every hour counts in reinstatement cases filed by workers who have been laid off and are struggling to survive. The trial lawsuit has taken almost three years. Who is the court for, anyway?
While not compulsory, appeals on civil lawsuits are supposed to be finished within 5 months of the date the higher court receives the case records. They say the Supreme Court customarily takes around 13 months to consider layoff annulment cases. It is essentially a legal review, as reviews of the evidence are over with at the superior court. The company may have submitted additional "reference material," but that does not convince you of why it is only Kim's case for which there is this delay.
The Supreme Court must try Kim's case swiftly, and guarantee the people's right to a trial. Members of the National Assembly brought up the issue last year during the Assembly's annual review of government affairs. Trials are of course the authority of the court, but it should not wield that authority in such a manner. Would not the situation have to be bad for there to be suggestions that the fact a lawyer who was once himself a Supreme Court justice, and who is close with the justice responsible for the case, is defending the company and enjoying the privileges of a former justice have something to do with the delay? The Supreme Court must not ignore the desperate appeal of a laid off worker, a member of the weak in society.
The Hankyoreh, 25 February 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Supreme Court Must Listen to Calls of the Weak |
