Progressive union leader detained

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- The head of South Korea's leading umbrella labor union has been taken into custody on charges of organizing illicit strikes and protests over the resumption of U.S. beef imports, police said Monday.

Lee Suk-haing, the chairman of the progressive Korean Confederation of Trade
Unions (KCTU) who was captured Friday after months of flight, is suspected of
spearheading illegal strikes three times between July 2-18 in protest of the beef
imports. He is also accused of organizing a violent strike on Nov. 11 last year
and spearheading the illegal occupation of outlets of the clothing manufacturer
ELAND, then in a labor dispute, 116 times between June 12-Aug. 31.
"We've issued Lee's arrest warrant given his refusal to the police summons and
months of flight," a judge of the Seoul Central District Court said earlier.
Lee has been staging a hunger strike since Saturday, citing his "illegal" arrest.
Union members called last week for Lee's release during a protest visit to the
Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul, where their leader is detained.
"It's political suppression for the prosecution to say that demands for the
withdrawal of the beef imports and the reemployment of illegally fired ELAND
unionists are crimes, as they are the natural rights of the people and laborers,"
KCTU spokesperson Woo Moon-sook said.
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