The KCTU during the presidency
of Kim Dae-jung

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KCTU Meets Kim
By Eric Lee, Labor-L, 28 December 1997. Leaders of the semi-legal Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) met yesterday (Saturday) with President-Elect Kim Dae Jung. This was the first time that KCTU leaders met with such a high-ranking official in the Korean government.
KCTU to Be Legalized Next Month
Korea Times, 5 March 1998. The non-registered Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is set to refashion itself as a legal organization early next month. The KCTU’s planned submission means that the progressive Korea teachers and educational workers’ union, known as Chonkyojo, will be excluded from its member unions list.
The KCTU’s Second Leadership Election—Our Opinions on the Issues
PICIS Newsletter, no. 11, Monday 30 March 1998. Interview by Workers’ Daily News of two candidates for presidency of the KCTU, Jung Gab-deuk and Lee Gab-yong. What distinguishes the candidates. Social partnership trend. Split in KCTU. Composition of secretariat. Policy toward FCTU.
Stage Set for a Historic Encounter: KCTU Calls for Negotiations and General Strike
KCTU Action Alert, 20 May 1998. KCTU, at the extraordinary session of the National Congress, on May 20, 1998, decided to call for direct negotiations with the government, and if the government does not respond to the call for negotiation, KCTU will launch first warning strike on May 27, 1998. It will be followed by the second wave general strike on June 10, if the government continues its intransigent attitude. The five demands.
South Korean workers face off against the new, liberal regime
By Mark Detroit, Communist Voice, 1 August 1998, rev. 17 October 2001. A paper critical of the KCTU. The militant KCTU has called most of the strikes and protests, but its leadership also seeks reconciliation with the new democratic regime of Kim Dae Jung which is leading the austerity onslaught against the masses.
KCTU Concerted Campaign: All Set to Go—Subway Workers to Lead the Struggle
KCTU News, 17 April 1999. The KCTU-wide general campaign, including rolling strikes by selected unions, is set to roll into action on Monday April 19, 1999 with the strike by the Seoul Subway Workers Union leading the way. The KCTU General Campaign is aimed at forcing a change in the overall orientation of the government’s restructuring policy. The Kim Dae Jung government, in actively espousing the discredited IMF policy of neo-liberalism and Washington Consensus.
Finally, the government gives in to recognise the KCTU
KCTU News, 23 November 1999. The Ministry of Labour finally, after four previous rejections, accepted the ‘notification of the establishment of a trade union’ submitted by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The establishment of the KCTU on November 11, 1995, after 8 years since the massive explosion of workers’ struggle in 1987 and the birth of democratic trade union movement in November 1970 was itself a historic landmark in the emergence of a new force in the Korean society.