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COSATU joins millions of workers all over the world who have and continue to condemn the Lee-Myeong-Bak regime of South Korea for suppressing workers rights in the name of law and order during the G20 summit to be held in Seoul, South Korea this coming week.

We particularly take this opportunity to salute and express our fullest support to the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions), our ally, for their unwavering determination to defend workers rights in the midst of intensified repression in the country.

COSATU is sending a delegation to the G20 summit led by our 1st Deputy President, Cde Tyotyo James to participate in all the activities organised to demand an end to poverty, attack on workers' rights, unemployment and the system of organised greed. It will also call for a democratic multilateralism and not the exclusive club of the richest economies in the form of the G20 which is about rescuing the failed neo-liberal system and managing the global economy in the narrow interests of the rich and powerful. We need a new democratic management system of the world economy, involving all nations and workers in critical decisions about the future of our globe.

In this regard, we also note with disappointment the harassment of the COSATU delegation by the South Korean embassy in South Africa, demanding personal information not required by the law for our delegates, in the name of "tracking them and their safety in Seoul", which is unacceptable.

COSATU will also take the opportunity to also attend the SIGTUR RCC in Seoul which shall take place at the same time, involving our allies in the global south, in an effort to strengthen the unity and power of workers in the developing world at a time when the crisis are hitting hard on their living and working conditions than anywhere else in the world.

Our participation will also be about expressing our full solidarity to KCTU in practice as the South Korean regime intensifies its repression against workers and the poor. In this regard, we note that massive crackdowns by the immigration Service and other state agencies in Seoul, in the name of "pre-emptively responding to foreigner crime". The Seoul Metropolitan Police Department has been carrying out blatantly illegal and provocative stop and search activities, particularly targeting ‘suspicious" foreign and dark skinned elements. A Special Road maintenance crew, purportedly to "clean up the streets" before the summit is targeting street vendors and other informal workers.

To crown it all, the ruling Conservative Grand National Party imposed a new law, the Special Law on the safe Escort of the G20 Summit, which decisively attacks freedom of assembly and association. It was made in May and went into full force beginning of October, with the provision to allow government to mobilise the army "if necessary" to maintain public order. It goes on to establish "Safe escort zones" around the G20 venues and related areas.

The so-called Safe Escort zones are also not clearly demarcated, which conveniently leaves open the possibility that any area targeted for marches could be demarcated as such, where people are subjected to indiscriminate stop and searches and not allowed to go there.

In this regard, we support the demands of the popular civil society forces and trade unions to the South Korean government, which are;
• The G20 Summit is NO excuse! Stop the crackdown on migrants, street vendors and homeless people!
• Honour the international labour standards and ILO recommendations! Stop labour repression and labour flexibilisation policies!
• Repeal the Special Law on the safe Escort of the G20 summit and end repression of the rights of freedom of expression and assembly
This is the time for action against double standards of the South Korean government which parades itself as a beacon of hope and success in the Asia Pacific region, whilst attacking workers rights and the poor. We call on all workers and people's organisations all over the world to support the workers and people of South Korea during this summit and beyond by exposing the brutal repression of their rights.

Finally, we reiterate our call for a new, just and democratic world economic order that serves the broad interests of the world's poor and working people in general and not the narrow interests of a few rich and industrialised countries and their multinational companies. We stand opposed to the intensified looting of natural resources of developing countries, as well as the attack on labour standards in the name of free market. The international trade union movement, peasants' organisations, women and youth formations, civil society networks and progressive forces in general are called upon to step up the co-ordination of their resistance and struggle for this noble goal.