'Occupation Protest at Hongik University' Cleaning and Security Workers Confirmed Guilty by Supreme Court

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court has upheld the guilty verdict against cleaning and security workers who were prosecuted for obstruction of business after staging a sit-in protest demanding better treatment at Hongik University in 2017.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jung-hwa) on the 9th affirmed the lower court's ruling sentencing Kim Min-cheol, Deputy Organizer of the Seoul-Gyeongin Region Public Service Branch of the Public Transport Union, to four months in prison with a one-year suspended sentence on charges including obstruction of business.

With this ruling, Park Jin-guk, head of the Hongik University branch of the Public Transport Union, who was prosecuted alongside Deputy Organizer Kim, received a fine of 3 million won and a one-year suspended sentence, while cleaning worker Jo from Hongik University was fined 2 million won.

The court stated, "The defendants entered the office without prior consent from the administration and engaged in prolonged disputes using excessive noise beyond tolerance limits, exerting collective power, which cannot be considered a lawful act."

Deputy Organizer Kim and others were prosecuted for occupying the Hongik University administration office for about eight hours in July 2017, demanding a wage increase.

They were also charged with obstructing the university's administrative work by blocking the university president and shouting slogans such as "Resolve our issues" for about 20 minutes in August of the same year.

In court, Deputy Organizer Kim and others argued that occupying the university lobby and administration office was a legitimate labor dispute action.

However, both the first and second trials found them guilty of the charges.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.