This action came a few days after south Korean banks, in conjunction with the finance ministry, announced drastic measures against 52 companies with total debts of $7 billion--18 of them are to be liquidated, 20 put up for sale, 11 placed into receivership, and 3 merged with other companies. Up to 200,000 jobs are threatened with elimination, which comes on top of 800,000 already laid off in the past two years.

In response, workers at Daewoo demonstrated November 3 in front of the Korea Development Bank in Seoul, standing up to a police assault. Workers also barricaded production facilities at Samsung’s truck plant in Taegu after it was announced that Samsung Commercial Vehicles is one of the companies to be liquidated.

Some 20,000 workers chanting "No Layoffs!" marched through Seoul, November 12. Some 100 people--50 cops and 50 unionists--were injured when thousands of police using shields formed human barricades across a major street in an attempt to stop the march. The protesters chanted, "Down with [President] Kim Dae-Jung" and called for nationalization of Daewoo Motor.

The head of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions was enthusiastically greeted by demonstrators when he suggested that a nationwide strike begin in early December.

Construction industry unions have also warned of an indefinite strike starting November 29 if the government goes through with its plans to shut down 11 construction firms.

A November 9 editorial in The Korea Herald entitled "A bleak winter ahead" observed, "Hundreds of thousands of workers will lose their jobs sooner or later in the wake of last week’s announcement by creditor banks of a list of insolvent companies. They will join the huge crowds of jobless who have already endured enormous difficulties since the financial crisis of three years ago. This time around, the pain will be felt even sharper."

The scope of the crisis of which working people are being forced to bear the brunt is reflected in the steep decline in the value of company stocks. Measured in dollars, the stock market in south Korea, as well as those in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, have fallen by 50 percent so far this year.

In August 1999 Daewoo was "bailed out" by the banks, which instituted a debt rescheduling program aimed at selling off the firm or its assets.

Daewoo’s latest proposed concessionary package, announced last month, included cutting its workforce by about 20 percent. In fact, the banks refused to loan any more money to Daewoo without agreement from the workers to accept massive job cuts. Union officials responded that management must first pay wage arrears of $100 million owed to the workers before they would contemplate any further job cuts or a wage freeze.

The court has until mid-December to decide whether to grant bankruptcy protection for Daewoo or order its liquidation. According to an article in the November 10 Financial Times, the court’s decision "will depend on the company’s restructuring programme, including forcing workers to accept a reduction in the 19,000-strong workforce by 3,500."

Daewoo Motor suspended production at its largest assembly plant in south Korea November 9. The closure of this Pupyong plant will affect some 185 subcontractors, which employ more than 100,000 workers.

The company has also proposed a 30 percent cut of the 4,000 jobs at the company’s van manufacturing plant in Lublin, Poland. The Polish government has offered $180 million in loan guarantees to sustain production at Daewoo’s two main plants in the country. It has also threatened to take over control of Daewoo’s passenger car plant in Warsaw, Daewoo-FSO, if operations shut down. Some 5,500 workers are employed at this plant, in which Daewoo has an 86.6 percent stake. Seoul has announced plans to eliminate 2,600 of these jobs.

The Financial Times editors called the bankruptcy declaration by Daewoo "a welcome sign," stating that "the most critical issue is the government’s determination to stand firm in the face of political unpopularity, as essential restructuring leads to factory closures and job losses." The big-business daily added, "Decisive action to bury these industrial dinosaurs will increase foreign investors’ confidence and inward investment."  
 
 
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