There is a law that dictates that only one labour union may exist within a company; Samsung created a labour union with their loyal companymen so workers may not create their own.
We had something similar in DK a few years ago, but there it wasn´t abused as much as Korea... It was abused, but that was more like forcing people into a specific union or get fired... Was actually due to EU we got that fixed, but several legal professors already had argued the same for a while... That there should be freedom to elect and be part of a union...
Anyone who advocates worker's rights are often branded "communists" by the elderly people, McCarthyism from US in 1950s being still very much alive in South Korea as of 2015 because it works so well for the conservative party. Korea has the lowest welfare expenditure in proportion to the country's GDP among OECD countries but the poor people who barely make ends meet always scream "you freaking communists!" and "excessive welfare spending ruins the country" whenever progressive party makes any suggestions to increasing the welfare spending.
Do you have a two-party system? in Europe we have a multi-party system which in many cases works better since more parties will have more voters express their opinion through them, instead of electing through conservative or "communist"
The regionalism, the collusive link between the government and business, the corruption in this country are insurmountable not because the task is impossible but because many people are so very ignorant. Most poor South Koreans believe in trickle down effect and that the government should impose less tax on millionaires, a propaganda actively supported by government friendly media.
Trickle down effect har begun to be critized by economist inside US already, so it´s fair to say it doesn´t really work
what works is incencitiving to adding workplaces...
The conservative party actually did ask North Korea to fire guns at the border so that citizens' anxiety caused by the tension will help them win the election in 1990. The scandal was revealed by media but voters STILL elected the conservative party. Duh.
Damn... Didn´t know that... Always thought SKorea to be one of the good guys...
Few weeks ago a worker was severely injured and lost his limb in a factory; the boss ordered his workers not to call the ambulance but treat him there because he wanted to cover up the accident and the fact that he did not adhere to the safety regulations; the worker died in pain and the scheme was discovered by CCTV. This things happen quite a lot in my country.
Damn... Sounds like something needs to be done... Why doesn´t people react to these things? is the media also corrupted?
A Korean professor was arrested few months back when he and his students abused his assistant instructor with physical violence and also forcing him to eat his turd. I'm mentioning this because the strong(using thier age, position) preying on the weak is very common in Korea. I've personally seen some apartments regidents de-humanizing and insulting janitors because of what little power they have over their employment. It's so sick.
Sick...
Liberated from Japanese colonization of 35 years, a special assembly was created to hunt down traitors and put them on trials. Korean president Lee disbanded the assembly and no pro-Japanese collaborators were ever punished for betraying the country, as opposed to France and Nazi-controlled countries that prosecuted thousands and hung hundreds. Those pro-Japanese collaborators were appointed to the important government positions, and they framed people who fought for independence as communists and hunted them down to strengthen the president's political dictatorship. These days many descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators are still well off while the descendant independence fighters are usually impoverished.
Well... To be fair, the scenario in Europe wasn´t really that good... Since they basically killed people who had no choice than to cooperate with Nazi to get food on the table... But that sounds equally bad to reward them for it :-O
I am sorry for the massive digression. I don't know why I wrote this exactly but I think I'm mad at all these nonsense and the fact many Koreans take these for granted. If you are living in Northern Europe you are really blessed.
Well... We, in northern Europe are living in a massive "communist" wellfare state... And has just been elected the most coorporate friendly nations by Forbes, though we are among the highest tax-burdens for companies. A large social welfare system (that´s being attacked by liberals atm in DK), but this doesn´t make us communists... We are more like... Social-liberal, a good mix... A phrase "equal opportunity to reach the sky and a safety net for those who fall" is what comes to mind.
However, Korea and asia in general have had a long history of communism and it seems that they either strongly support it or strongly objects to it, blaming all that sounds even miniscule like wellfare being of communists work... This happens in US too, when they try to implement systems from Scandinavia that actually works... They are deemed communists
The good news is, this will get better with time, mainly due to the number of people who gets educated but also when the "elite" starts to die off, as you said... It´s only a "few" years since, it took about 40-50 years for us to address the issue from WW2.
What scares me most is that South Korea is probably among 'good' countries to live in if you take all the existing countries into consideration. It makes me uncomfortable when people complain how long Sweden's paid vacation is. DLCs and patches may be delayed, but on the other hand that means Swedish laws allow their people to live a good life, free from most non-senses I find so sick in my country. That is something that warms my heart to know that not every society on earth is so miserable.
We work hard and party hard in Scandinavia ;-) We enjoy life and enjoy work, but it also binds to our cultural heritage, just look at the vikings ;-) But yes... It can be done, but media and the people must want for it
