[The Typing Baker] After Dismissal, We Lost Colleagues, Family, and Myself

"They (GM) are coming back from Korea to Detroit." On February 13, three days before the 2018 Lunar New Year, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted this. He boasted that jobs in Korea would return to the U.S. as his achievement, but Gunsan fell into a nightmare. Overnight, 2,044 employees of Korea GM and 1,028 workers from 164 partner companies lost their jobs. This came after 4,859 jobs had already disappeared a year earlier due to the shutdown of a shipyard.

Gunsan City in Jeonbuk Province experienced ups and downs due to changes in its industrial structure. It grew as a regional hub city with the opening of the port during the Japanese colonial period but declined after being excluded from the East Coast urban development plan established during the military dictatorship era. Then, starting in the 1990s, as China began its reform and opening-up, Gunsan aimed to revive itself as a center of trade with China.

Automobile factories and shipyards were established. Automobile factory workers firmly rooted their livelihoods in the city, trusting the factories. Following the shipyards, ship block and equipment companies flocked to Gunsan. Citizens dreamed of a "world city Gunsan" while watching the large cranes of the shipyards. Gunsan was a workplace, a living space, and a playground, but when jobs disappeared, it left scars that could never be erased.

When asked what they lost since that day, workers say family, colleagues, and employees. All are people. They lost themselves as well. For the unemployed, finding a new job was a process of "lowering their standards." Past standards and glory, self-esteem, and minimum dignity were recalled but unattainable.

What was even harsher was the way of communication. Non-regular workers at Korea GM were notified of their dismissal by a single text message. They met with reporters out of frustration and injustice, which became a topic, but the only change was that the text was replaced by registered mail. "Above all, we could never accept the dismissal process. Even after settling into new jobs, we cannot forget the moment of dismissal. It was rude, irrational, and incomprehensible... dismissal was like that."

Nevertheless, the workers are turning despair into hope. In 2015, a law was passed allowing the use of alternative parts in automobile maintenance. Overseas, maintenance using alternative parts was common. Some dismissed workers heard that Taiwan, which lacks a notable global automaker, dominates the global automobile parts market. They worked hard, small partner companies gathered to form an "Alternative Parts Council," and finally produced the first domestic alternative part. "We will replace foreign company parts. Now, we are trying to enter the U.S. automobile alternative parts market, which Taiwan currently dominates."

Dismissal and unemployment are no longer just Gunsan’s problems. Just as the shift from agriculture to manufacturing caused rural depopulation, the transition from manufacturing to the Fourth Industrial Revolution is forcing manufacturing workers to face unemployment and job changes. Gunsan’s problem is the problem of Korean society as a whole. This is why the author spent six weeks living and working alongside workers in Gunsan.

Unemployed City | Bang Junho | Bookie | 15,000 KRW

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