MBC’s exploration project ‘Straight’, which will be broadcast on the 18th, will focus on the problems and solutions of Kim Gun-hee’s assistant work and focus on the crisis of the Korean shipbuilding industry, which is in total trouble in the midst of a boom.
– “Bring the First Lady”
Daily photos of the president and his wife, including photos taken in the Oval Office. Kim Gun-hee’s fan club, not the president’s office, released these photos, and the controversy continued. Even the presidential movement, a state secret, was leaked to the fan club in advance. The boundary between public and private has been completely broken. How the hell did this fan club get the picture and make it public? We looked into the reality of this fan club, which was established in November last year.
There are growing calls to revive the second annex to assist Ms. Kim. Although they pledged to abolish it by promoting a quiet internal help, as a result, the quiet internal help has not been kept. It is reported that the presidential office also operates a kind of execution team. Although there is no formal organization chart, it is estimated that the team has at least five employees. But is the right throne being established? In the recent controversy over Mrs. Kim’s ‘non-reporting of jewelry property’, the presidential office has not been able to provide a proper explanation. In ‘Straight’, we looked at the aides work of Mrs. Geon-hee Kim, where the boundary between public and private affairs has collapsed, what is the problem and what is the solution.
– Squeeze the ‘Kingdom of Joseon’
It has been two months since the strike of the in-house subcontractor workers of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) ended. However, 42 workers are still out of work. Subcontractors went out of business and they suddenly became unemployed. The management’s promise of ’employment succession’ is being delayed one by one. Subcontractor workers, who had been paid the minimum wage for years, barely managed to get a 4.5% wage increase. Ahead of Chuseok, a worker in his 40s suffered serious injuries and died at the shipyard. It was also part of a subcontractor. This is the second death this year alone. Low wages and dangerous working conditions have forced tens of thousands of skilled workers to leave the shipbuilding industry.
The road to a boom that came back after a long recession. However, the workers who have left in an atmosphere that still treat workers like parts show no sign of returning. It’s easier to get paid and faster to do simple work at a construction site than to do welding at a shipyard with skills. Despite this situation, shipbuilders are asking the government to make it easier for them to use foreign workers, saying that they are holding back the opportunities that subcontractor workers have been waiting for. Straight has focused on where the competitiveness of the Korean shipbuilding industry has been eroded.
Meanwhile, ‘Straight’ is broadcast today (18th) at 8:30 pm.
Baek A-young / photo courtesy of MBC