The Busan Shipping Union is the largest union in the Busan region and a member organization of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU, Hanguk Nochong), and there are suspicions there were corrupt activities there involving the selling of jobs. The former head of the union and four union officials have held a press conference in the Busan regional police headquarters to issue a "declaration of conscience," of which the contents are shocking. The union took in between W5 and W20 million in the name of "organization fees" from an average of 50 to 100 new members each month, and then on top of that a considerable amount of that money was passed on to the head of the union. It doesn’t stop there. There are claims that union leadership received as much as W2.1 billion from 140 individuals in the course of hiring and promotions, and that tens of millions of Won were diverted from an insurance company. Each is a lethal case as far as the union's moral standing is concerned.
The union's leadership has an entirely different version of events. It notes that while around 40 members have been called into the prosecution for questioning over the period of a year, each has been cleared. It claims that one of the former official making the accusations was kicked out of the organization last January on accusations he embezzled union money, and the others were dismissed from their positions or kicked out for falsifying official documents. It is suggesting the accusers are acting on grudges. If true, the "declaration of conscience" itself is what becomes subject to questions about authenticity. Indeed, the prosecution investigated the initial charges once and cleared everyone it looked at, and it is in the process of a second investigation because of a complaint petition.
The claims being made by the parties directly involved are in direct conflict and the prosecution is in the process of a new investigation. With their "declaration of conscience" former union officials have made the suspicions something that cannot be ignored any longer. This time around the suspicions that have long been hanging over the union should be cleared up once and for all. The prosecution must keep from a unilateral "judgment in the press" in order to be able to clarify what the truth is. Suspicions about the shipping union are out in the open, so the umbrella union, FKTU, needs to engage in its own inquiry. There has to be clarification of whether this is a big fabrication or a conscientious witness to the truth.
The Hankyoreh, 11 March 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Questions about Busan Shipping Union |
