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Kap Seol is a Korean writer and researcher based in New York. His writings have appeared in Labor Notes, In These Times, Business Insider, and other publications. In 2019, his exposé for Korean independent daily Kyunghyang revealed an imposter who falsely claimed to be a US military intelligence specialist posted to the South Korean city of Gwangju during a popular uprising in 1980.
Behind South Korea’s economic growth, there’s a system that grinds workers to the bone at every stage of the life cycle, from high school students to retirees. The film Next Sohee dramatizes the impact of that system to devastating effect.
Donald Trump has approved a deal with South Korea to equip its navy with nuclear-powered submarines. Combined with Trump’s aggressive posture toward China, the move will further exacerbate tensions in a volatile region.
An ICE raid on workers at a Hyundai plant in Georgia has sent shock waves through South Korean politics. It came just as Donald Trump has been trying to strong-arm South Korea’s government into accepting an extortionate trade deal with the US.
Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung won a comfortable victory in South Korea’s snap presidential election. But far-right forces are still gaining strength, especially among young men attracted by misogynist scapegoating of women.
While the South Korean media has been focused on a snap presidential election, an important scandal has emerged involving the union that represents Samsung workers. It’s a cautionary tale about the difficulties facing organized labor in South Korea.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court has finally impeached disgraced right-wing president Yoon Suk-yeol after his failed coup last December. Yoon and his conservative allies have given a major boost to a far-right movement that is hostile to democracy.
South Korea’s right-wing president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has finally been arrested after his attempt to stage a coup. But Yoon’s supporters are still mobilizing aggressively, hoping that Donald Trump will take their side over false claims of electoral fraud.
South Korea’s right-wing president, Yoon Suk-yeol, failed in his bid to impose martial law and clamp down on his opponents. With Yoon now facing impeachment, the country can root out the undemocratic political practices that made his attempted coup possible.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a proxy war between the Korean states as they supply arms for both sides. Now that Kim Jong-un has sent troops to take a direct role in the fighting, South Korea could respond by escalating its own involvement.
Samsung, the flagship of South Korean capitalism and one of the world’s biggest electronics firms, is facing its first-ever strike.
A film that depicts South Korea’s 1979 US-backed coup has become a box-office sensation. 12.12: The Day is now available to international audiences as a gripping depiction of right-wing maneuvers against democracy that has strong contemporary resonances.
South Korea’s legislative election was a blow to conservative president Yoon Suk-yeol, whose party was routed by its liberal opponents. But the vote also weakened the left forces seeking to challenge the dominance of two pro-business parties.
On May Day, South Korean construction union leader Yang Hoe-dong took his own life by setting himself on fire rather than accept the state’s anti-union charges against him. Yang is a brutal casualty of the South Korean president’s war on labor.
Last week, South Korea’s intelligence agency raided the country’s largest group of independent unions. It’s a blatant attack on workers’ rights that has raised fears the conservative government is resurrecting dictatorship-era methods of bludgeoning labor.
In the 1920s, China’s Communist Party retreated from the cities to the countryside to wage a protracted guerrilla war. This long separation from the Chinese working class fostered an autocratic culture that went on to shape the party’s rule over China.
Squid Game’s director says he was inspired by the 2009 Ssangyong Motor strike undertaken by me and my coworkers. Now millions around the world have glimpsed our struggle — but it’s far from over, and our wounds have not healed.
In a predawn raid on September 2, the South Korean government arrested Yang Kyung-soo, president of the country’s largest labor confederation. Yang is the thirteenth president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions in a row to be jailed.
From the struggle against Japanese rule in Korea to his work with China’s revolutionaries, Kim San lived a life committed to socialism and the struggle against imperialism. He deserves to be remembered today.
Coupang is South Korea’s answer to Amazon. Just like the American retail behemoth, Coupang’s business model depends on abusing its workers.
South Korean labor activist Kim Jin-suk inspired her country back in 2011 by occupying the top of a 115-foot shipyard crane to protest worker layoffs and defend workers’ rights. Now, as she fights for her life against breast cancer, she’s demanding her job back.