POSCO Construcion unionists who have been on strike since 1st July demanding multilevel subcontracting visited headquarters building of POSCO on 13th July to lodge a protest against company's input of alternative workers. The next day unionists were surrounded by riot police, and they took shelter inside headquarters to head off the collision. This was how so called 'POSCO Lock-in' began. While the press reports were focused only on the unlawfulness of the unionists' occupation, police and the company shut off electricity and water supply of the heaquaters building. As unionists' families struggled to sedn food to the isolated unionists in the building, they held a rally to support unionists' protest. And during the peaceful rally shere riot police stormed into twice with violence, a unionist Ha Joong Guen fell down, and died after all.
However, the press reported that the death was just an accident in the middle of the rally which turned out to be false. Both Newspapers and TV news blamed the death on unionists. Moreover a pregnant woman was assaulted by the ript police to lose her unborn child during the rally on 19th July, which was organized to urge the government to get the bottom of Ha's death. It is still unknown who catually hit Ha's gead as the Kyongbuk Porvince Police authority itself-the authority undertook the operation was in charge of the case. Because of Ha's death unionists descirbed as 'rioters' by the press and the police, got angered eben more. The unionists outsisde POSCO headquarters building held rallies to urge the police to allow peaceful march toward POSCO headquarters where another unionists was 'accupying'. Eventually the police let unionists march to the geadquaters building after several claches, and they marched peacefully as promised.
Yet, the police denide responsibility of Ha's death (just as it did when it killed two farmers in 2005) even though unionusts came to Seoul to demand inquire into the actual state of the death. Ha's funeral had to be held on 6 Sep by the request of his family. Now, one year has been passed sinch the fueral without knowing who killed Ha, and the struggle to find truth came to a state of lull. Ha's comrades kept the first small anniversary of his death on 1st Aug 2007 in Pohang. And Behind the small anniversary, lamplights from the Intermational Lamplight Festival shined brightly as it they celebrated anniversary of the capital's victory, or as if they erased the past.

Ever since th International Monetary Fund restructuring program had been initiated in 1997, Korea has become a society of mammonism and supercapitalism where one can hardly find democracy for the unprivileged whose reasonable demand is disregarded by the power and capital. While Market capitalism-oriented society squeezing non-regular workers, people tend to pay little attention to this issue as if they have no interest in it at all. POSCO Construction workers' fierce struggle in 2006 cluld be a case. Their struggle was not widely understood, and it saw even described as an antisocial action. Was it distorted by POSCO, the large-cap? POCP Construction workers in the middle of the struggle for their suvival were often regarded as mobsters, and their request was not properly known to the public. When a construction worker was killed by the riot police during the struggle, the case was not fully investigated. And the death wasn't even dealt as one of the serious social problems by the pulic. In Korea there is no democracy for the impoverishd in the name of economic development. I would like to disclose their story to the public again. I should also speak out who is responsible for the death of Ha Joong guen. and tell the audience about the mechanism of our society dominated by inhumane supercapitalism.