After leading charge to oust Yoon, young women and LGBTQ+ Koreans flock to unions and politics to make lasting change
Source: Hankyoreh
Ever since Korea was rocked by former president Yoon Suk-yeol’s botched martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 25-year-old Yu Seul-gi’s life has gone in an unexpected direction.
Yu joined the Korean Graduate Employee Union, a chapter of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, in early January. Now she’s preparing to set up a local union shop at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, better known as KAIST.
While Yu has been in her combined master’s and doctoral program for five years now, she hadn’t planned on joining the union last year. But her experience as a protestor changed her mind.
Yu frequently joined demonstrations at Eunhasu Intersection, in Daejeon’s Seo District, to voice her support for Yoon’s impeachment. Those demonstrations were a vibrant forum where Koreans of all stripes swapped their viewpoints.
“I guess it was hearing all these different people’s stories that made me realize that many people who work in our society aren’t recognized as laborers. Listening to speeches by homemakers helped me see that domestic laborers aren’t generally seen as laborers. I saw joining a labor union as something I could do, right now, to ensure our society gives diverse kinds of labor the recognition they deserve,” Yu said.
Many graduate students in Korea work as researchers, but fall through the cracks of labor rights because of their status as students.
Read here the full article published by Hankyoreh on 9 of April 2025.
Image by Hankyoreh
Ever since Korea was rocked by former president Yoon Suk-yeol’s botched martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 25-year-old Yu Seul-gi’s life has gone in an unexpected direction.
Yu joined the Korean Graduate Employee Union, a chapter of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, in early January. Now she’s preparing to set up a local union shop at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, better known as KAIST.
While Yu has been in her combined master’s and doctoral program for five years now, she hadn’t planned on joining the union last year. But her experience as a protestor changed her mind.
Yu frequently joined demonstrations at Eunhasu Intersection, in Daejeon’s Seo District, to voice her support for Yoon’s impeachment. Those demonstrations were a vibrant forum where Koreans of all stripes swapped their viewpoints.
“I guess it was hearing all these different people’s stories that made me realize that many people who work in our society aren’t recognized as laborers. Listening to speeches by homemakers helped me see that domestic laborers aren’t generally seen as laborers. I saw joining a labor union as something I could do, right now, to ensure our society gives diverse kinds of labor the recognition they deserve,” Yu said.
Many graduate students in Korea work as researchers, but fall through the cracks of labor rights because of their status as students.
Read here the full article published by Hankyoreh on 9 of April 2025.
Image by Hankyoreh