[vol.21] [Voices from the workplace] Violence in the workplace: Kyoung Hyon Kim, a woman worker in Daejin Machine Co

Voices from the Workplace 1.

Violence in the workplace: Kyoung Hyon Kim,

a woman worker in Daejin Machine Co

Seong Hae Cho(President of Inchon WWA)

≪-Ms. Kyoung Hyon Kim in her wheel chair (photo by Women's Newspaper)

At the age of 27, at her working peak, a woman worker lost the sensation in the lower half of her body and was hospitalized for a few months. Recently it has been confirmed that she sustained mental shock which resulted in a conversion handicap. She is also receiving psychological therapy.

This disaster, which came to seem as grave as a death sentence, happened in the Daejin Machine Co., owned by Tae Gu Kang, in the Pupyong Industrial Complex in Inchon on September 18. She was badly beaten by a male manager in the company.

It happened all of a sudden. Manager Jong Tae Yoo, working in the accounts department, was scolded by his boss for the poor production quality. Upset, he went to the production department, and in harsh words severely berated the workers.

Kyoung Hyon Kim demanded that "discover the source of the bad quality be identified and that the proper steps be taken to complain". It was a reasonable request. Without warning, Yoo threw boxes at her and then attempted to beat her up.

The other 15 workers there stopped him. Kim was so disconcerted at the attack that she took a rest in a changing room. She was resting when he came into the room. He beat her around her neck and kicked her, then hit her chest and back.

A few colleagues heard her cry and they came to stop him. She lost awareness for a while and could not remember exactly what had happened. Only by the state of her clothes could she confirm that she had been beaten by him.

Despite feeling unwell she came to work the next day and the day after. But by September 20th, she was in agony and could no longer endure the pain. Her colleagues helped her to a hospital, where she received first aid and then some physiotherapy. A while later she experienced paralysis in the lower half of her body.

Furthermore, she displayed symptoms of mental disturbance. She is now in the process of psychological therapy and her doctor is unable to say when the paralysis will disappear. The company recognized its responsibility for the violent abuse she had suffered - at the beginning.

However, the company changed its stance when her condition worsened. The company is now taking responsibility for medical expenses for one month only. With regard to its violation of the Labor Standard Law, the company is prepared to accept a legal penalty alone.

At the moment, the company refuses to communicate with her family. 15 organizations, including Inchon WWA, Inchon Equal Rights Counseling, Inchon Labor Committee, Catholic Students United, and Korea Confederation of Trade Union Inchon, are taking the company to court at the Labor Office for its neglect of the Labor Standard Law.

On October 7, the 'Countermeasure Committee of Inchon for the Human Rights of Women Workers and to Assist Kyoung Hyon Kim' was established and the committee appealed to the Pupyong Police Station and Labor Office, demanding that her case be investigated.

The committee also organized demonstration twice a week in front of the company at the end of shifts and are now holding protests before shifts begin.

However, the owner of the company and the manager Jong Tae Yoo don't want to take responsibility for the case - a source of great pain for Kyoung Hyon Kim and her family. Therefore the committee is planning to take further measures.

The committee is planning to organize a protest demonstration in front of the company branch offices in Seoul and to send appeal letters to all enterprises that purchase machines from the company.

We are now facing the 21st century, but the human rights violations continue and workers continue to be treated as inanimate cogs in a machine. The case described above illustrates the hopelessness of the situation, when women workers are exposed to physical violence without any access to protection.

We can also confirm the extreme situation confronting women workers in the attitudes of civil servants in labor offices and police stations. The Labor Office and police station in this particular instance failed to arrest the manager on the grounds that the medical report constituted insufficient evidence.

We believe that the case of Kyong Hyon Kim is not a problem for herself alone but illustrative of a larger social problem affecting all workers in small factories in this post-economic crisis period. Women workers vulnerable to physical attack from their managers have been divested of their basic human rights.

The KWWAU Equal Rights Counseling is committed to the Countermeasure Committee as a means to fight for the recognition of the human rights of women workers and to tackle the particular injustices suffered by Kyoung Hyon Kim.  

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Korea Working Women's Network 2000