Life Story Written by Park, min-na



Survival in the 80s of Dan Moo Ji
- Seok Hee Jang, Chairperson of Seoul Women Workers Association -




Min Na Park
Edition committee member of KWWAU



In summer of 1985, the burning sun was melting the busy streets and the emerging workers' struggle in Garibong-dong brought Seoul to boiling point.

The united struggle in the Guro area, which was conducted by the unions of the Daewoo Garment Co. Hyoseong Inc., Garibong Electronics, Sunil Electronics, and Buhung co. that were at almost the same time workplaces in which unions were being set up, was a memorable event in the struggle against the military regime.

At that time Ms. Seok Hee Jang had been a sewing machine worker in Korong Co. for one year. After the Guro Struggle, which resulted in the dismissals of over a thousand workers, there was a severe crack-down on the struggle in November.

She, along with two other colleagues, was kicked out onto the street. Her four-year long and difficult struggle for the restoration of her job started at that point.

Her struggle encountered repressive violence and she lost the hearing in her left ear. When I met her for an interview, she was holding her bag on her left-hand side and though her hand-phone was ringing in her bag she could not hear it.


The storm of dismissals after the Guro Solidarity Struggle


"The Solidarity Struggle was severely attacked, and we, hanging on for the establishment of a democratic trade union, we were united in our will to do something. We had the idea of distributing flyers. We worked on the fourth floor.

We divided the floors, and each of us took charge of one floor. We brought the flyers in under our coats. We did not go home after the night's work and hid in the bathroom.

At midnight we started our work. We left the flyers in places like the inside pockets of uniforms, in between the stuff for the next day's work, etc. The flyers were found the next day. It was a nice strategy.

But it was horrible to be in that dark workplace. Luckily there was an industrial headquarters beside our building. We could, at least, get some light from the street light at the headquarters.

When we entered the working place at dark night, we were so afraid that all our nerves were tense. We gave thanks for the light from the street."


She said, laughing, that she did not give these details to the prosecutor during her interrogation.

However the company started looking for the distributors of the flyers which were found hidden all over the place.

In the process, she and two other workers were fired, ostensibly because they gave their educational background incorrectly. They were senior high school graduates but wrote that they were junior high school graduates.

In the end the standing committee for disciplinary measures called a meeting and the committee decided to fire them. The president of the "yellow union" merely said, "Kick them out!"

Three company guards dragged them out the gate and took their uniforms from them by force. This happened on November 23, 1985.

They were shocked and sat down by the industrial complex until it got dark. Jang wondered if she had really been fired... She really could not understand the attitude of the union president and thought a lot about the situation. This day had really been too long for her.

Losing her hearing in her left ear through violent struggle

From the next day onward, she struggled to get into the company every day.

"Struggling to enter the company building was like asking to be hit by the huge company guards. One day, there was a hole in the ground, which might have been for planting a tree, and they dragged me into the hole and stamped on me with their feet wearing walking boots, and my mouth bled.

That was nothing. I lost consciousness seven or eight times. In fact, one or two times, I pretended to lose consciousness in order to avoid the severe beatings. (Laughing).

At that time I was surviving on one bowl of instant noodles every two days. In fact, it is a miracle that I am still alive."

She was laughing but she might have been crying in her heart recalling these sad and hard memories. She also had to battle against the bad impression the company gave of her struggle to the other workers in the workplace, and she was very worried about what they would think about her fight.

Therefore she tried to organize meetings with the workers after her painful day of struggle.

Finally a promotion committee for the democratization of the trade union was established, and she was able conduct a more powerful struggle.

She and her colleagues still managed to hold regular meetings during that hard time and the meetings gave them renewed strength.

Seok Hee Jang, who had to be prepared for another beating every day, managed to keep her strength up through the encouragement she got from her friends.

Four months later, 18 more workers were dismissed and the struggle to enter the company every day became a real war.

"We were so fed up with being hit that we planned to fight back. Then, a military police bus came and we were badly beaten. We really could not forgive them.

Once they dragged us into their military bus and they carried sticks. I blocked their way. Then one of them held onto the bar on the roof of the bus and kicked my chest.

I fell down and was severely beaten. When I came to my senses, I heard a strange sound like a siren in my ear and then I realized that I could not hear anything with my left ear."

From that time onward, anyone who wants to talk to her cannot sit on her left hand side.

Going to the place of struggle wearing a wig

At the end of 1986 a strange thing happened to her. She began to lose her hair. All the doctors she talked to said that this was caused by mental stress and malnutrition. Three months later she had lost all her hair.

She explained that she was not such a good-looking woman anyway and wearing a wig made her really bad-looking. I wondered if I should laugh or cry at her stories about her wig. Let's laugh since she herself is laughing at these painful stories!

In 1987, she had to run a lot on the streets. One day, when they were taking part in a street demonstration a military policeman caught her hair and the wig came off.

The man was too surprised to move and stopped in his tracks. Her friend next to her took the wig back and put it on her head. She looked so funny.

On another day, several military policemen caught her and tried to carry her to their bus. Suddenly her wig came off, and the poor men were so surprised that they dropped her.

Because of this particular incident she still has pain in her waist. There were so many stories about her wig. When the military police used fire hoses on the demonstrators, her wig was taken off by the water.

On another occasion she climbed a wall to get away from the police and her wig was caught on a nail..... So many interesting stories to make us laugh and cry.

"However, I once survived because of my wig. It was during the June People's Struggle. I was with the demonstrators in front of City Hall. I was running, avoiding a number of military policemen. A tear gas bomb hit my head.

Thank God I was wearing a wig or I may not be here with you today. Anyway, the tear gas covered my body. Every part of my body was covered in tear gas. I could not open my eyes.....

Ever since that time I have been allergic to tear gas. A few hours later, lots of egg-sized blisters appeared on all over my body. I was hospitalized for several days. Imagine! I could not eat well before.

During my time in hospital I ate a lot and gained weight. What with the egg-sized blisters, my bald head, and my fat body, it was terrible to see my reflection in the mirror."

She laughed. Her laughing was loud and hearty but it was so painful to hear. Her father came to the hospital. He was usually a very understanding father.

However, it was too much for him to see his daughter in that situation. Why should his daughter be in such a corner, looking so terrible, with her blisters, bald head and all the rest? Did she really have to continue to struggle? ....

However he was the one who persuaded the parents of the dismissed workers to organize. While Jang's mother was waiting for an operation for stomach cancer, he said to his daughter, "I will be responsible for my wife, while you go and do your work."

Therefore she still feels guilty about her mother, who passed away three years ago. She regrets that she could not do better for her mother....

Poor childhood

->Picnic held by Korong Co. trade union / 2nd person on the left side in the first line(1984.10.28)
She was born on June 11, 1959 in Inchon, Kyonggi-do. When she was born, her parents were living with their parents and seven brothers and sisters.

It was a big family. Since there were not many things to eat and their family was really big, she has few memories of eating rice. They fed chickens and pigs and as a result she sometimes ate pork or chicken when one of the animals died of disease.

"When I was nine years old, my parents moved to Samyang-dong, Seoul. At that time I was with my two brothers and my parents. We rented a room.

My father was skilled at many kinds of work and my mother was also very strong. She did all kinds of work like washing clothes, carrying water and so on. However, we were still very poor and we could not bring a lunch box to school.

When my teacher came to know about my situation, she put my name on the list of poor neighbors, and I was given a pile of gifts. This hurt my pride, and I cried a lot after coming home.

I cried out that I would not attend school any more. I was scolded and punished by my parents but I did not go to that school any more."

That experience left her with a pain in her heart and her family had to move house. Fortunately her father got a job in a private library as a guard. Even though they had to live in one room together, they did not starve any more.

However that happy time ended when her relatives moved to her family house. She had to spend her junior high school time in a small room at the private library.

When she was in her last year of senior high school, she had to make a decision about her future and whether she would go to university or not. She decided to help her brother, who is now a reverend of the Brothers' Church, to go to theology college.

She did various kinds of work. She was quite smart and earned good money. She earned a lot and spent a lot. She was once able to live quite a luxurious life.

Dan Moo Ji's life as a worker

"Whatever I did, I could earn good money. However, I quit jobs easily. I wondered what should I do.... At that time I heard some interesting stories from my brother and his friends.

They were involved in the Christian movement. I once met the workers of Dongil Textiles at the Youngdungpo Industrial Church and I was deeply impressed by the cast of their eyes.

It was shocking to hear the workers' situation. I was also influenced by the respected Rev. Hwa Soon Lee.

I thought that there seemed to be lots of problems in the textile industry, and I should try to solve these problems by majoring in textile science.

My nickname is Dan Moo Ji meaning simple, hysterical and pig-headed by nature. I passed an entrance exam in 1983 and became a college student majoring in textile science.

It did not take long for me to realize that it was useless. I only studied for one semester and then left college. Ha, Ha, Ha!"

"Then I started my worker's life. In March, 1984, I entered Korong Co.. At that time, there were a few labor militants already working there and they proposed that we work together."

However, she was reluctant to work with them because their methods of expression and approach were too radical to fit the situation of the workers. She also wanted to have some time to confirm the situation.

She believed that one step by a hundred workers is more valuable than a hundred steps by one worker. She studied the Labor Law and rewrote the flyers in a easier way for her colleagues to understand.

She felt the need to establish a Christian labor movement, and worked as one of the founding members of the Korea Christian Labor Federation.

The judicial precedent of invalid and unjust dismissal

She decided to take her case to court. At that time many people thought that bad laws should be destroyed by violating the law. Therefore some of her friends were not very happy with her idea of filing a suit.

However, she had faith that she could win in court since the Labor Standard Law manifested that her situation had not constituted being fired. It was a very difficult and time-consuming fight.

A year after her struggle to re-enter the company began, her campaigning decreased to 2 or 3 times a week. The company was fed up with her struggle but, the company wondered what was going on if she did not appear.

She was exhausted and really wanted to stop the endless struggle. Furthermore she was often arrested in the demonstrations organized by the Struggle Committee for Restoration of Jobs to Dismissed Workers.

The arrests, interrogations, and detentions continued. She was often lost to imagine the end of the fight. However, she had good friends near her.

"In fact, I started the movement as a dog and have become a human being. (Laughing) My friends always cared for me and we tried to help each other.

So, I was reborn as a humble human being. I could feel that humanity was beautiful through my friends. Most of them lived on W3,000 a month but, they still left tens of thousands won in my room with a warm letter.

My house was always watched and therefore they had to be very courageous to visit my house. I was always wondering if I could have done the same for them. They are so important to me. They are my most valuable property."

Returning to the workplace

On May 7, 1989, Seok Hee Jang and two other workers received the final verdict that their jobs must be restored: "Firing workers on the grounds that the distribution of flyers reduces the productivity of a company is injust". It was a memorable judical precedent.

However two of her friends gave up returning to the workplace and Seok Hee Jang alone had to face the difficult fight in the workplace, where the company spread stories that the dismissed workers were all communists.

"On the first day, when I arrived at the workplace everybody stopped their work and looked at me. I was very tense and nervous. There was no work for me and nobody talked to me. It was very strange and hard to stand.

During lunch time I was too nervous to eat. On the next table, my colleagues were looking at me very concerned expressions. I might have given up if there were no such warm eyes."

After returning to her work, she had to cry alone in the toilet for three months. When she talked about this period her eyes again got red. She had to give strength to her colleagues but it was hard to endure the situation.

She got a salary for doing nothing. At last she decided to think, "Well, if the situation is not going to change, why don't I enjoy it?"

"Whatever and whenever something happened, I ran to help. If some got digestive problems, I massaged her. If someone was seriously sick, I took her to hospital.

If there was hard work, I helped. I did not mind helping an assistant. Sometimes, I completed the work of others in secret to help. Very gradually the relationship with other workers improved.

I tried to do my best in order to be nice, particularly to those who had a bad impression of me. I also tried to approach the strong male workers and to become good friends with them. Finally they came round to our side. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

So the repressive atmosphere gradually changed to a better atmosphere in which she could talk to the other workers. She would not quit. Then she dared ask for a workload in order to receive her salary with pride.

Finally the company began to give her work and she recommenced normal workplace activity. A year later, her union membership was restored and at the end of 1991, she won the election with 87% of the vote and became president of the union.

->With the job trainees in SWWA class
However, the company had already started reforms and planned to move the factory. The former president had already signed the negotiation paper. In August 1994, the factory was closed.

She has kept a hanging which she got as a gift. She has kept in her mind the words on the hanger.

"It is written that if you empty your mind, you will be calm. We should not hold on to greediness. If I could go back to the past and live that experience again, I wouldn't be able to do it. It was that difficult.

However, I now have so good friends who are my life's fortune and taught me what to be grateful for and what being humble is."

She has no desire to marry. She has adjusted to living alone and has no confidence in living under the present marriage system.

Therefore her dream is to create a retirement town where she can live out her golden years with her friends and avoid loneliness.

Nowadays, the Women Workers Associations are gathering the power to establish a national trade union for women workers. Last February, she was elected as national president.

She feels uneasy. She wanted always to be responsible for herself. She hoped to live without any private greediness.

She wants to pass these times fast and looks forward to drinking time. She insists that she is still Dan Moo Ji. I hoped that she could keep her bright smile and left her.




Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
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