Prosecutors Indict Democratic Labor Union Officials Over Last Year's 'Gwangbokjeol Rally'

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Officials of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), who forcibly held a large-scale rally in downtown Seoul on Liberation Day last year, have been brought to trial.

According to the legal community on the 23rd, the 10th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jin Hyun-il) has indicted eight people, including former KCTU Emergency Committee Chairman Kim Jae-ha, without detention on charges of violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and the Assembly and Demonstration Act.

Last year on Liberation Day, amid the continued spread of COVID-19 in the metropolitan area, the KCTU held the '8.15 Workers' Rally' attended by about 2,000 people around Bosingak in Jongno-gu, Seoul, demanding the suspension of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises. At that time, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the police banned rallies at Bosingak along with the Gwanghwamun Square rally due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, but the KCTU went ahead with the rally.

In response, the conservative group Jayudaehan Hogukdan filed a complaint against the KCTU with the police, and the Jongno Police Station in Seoul forwarded the case to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in November last year with a recommendation for prosecution.

Meanwhile, the KCTU held a rally with about 8,000 participants in downtown Seoul on the 3rd of this month and announced that it will carry out a general strike involving 1.1 million union members on October 20.

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