塔の上に３５４日籠城　サムスンに抗議続けた韓国人男性、和解し地上に帰還

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】韓国の電機大手サムスン電子から解雇され、地上から約25メートルの高さにある監視カメラ塔の上から抗議を続けた男性が、同社と和解に達したことで約1年ぶりに地上へと降り立った。（写真はサムスン電子本社。資料写真）
　６０歳のキム・ヨンヒ氏は１９９５年、当時勤めていたサムスンで労働組合を立ち上げようとしたところ、同社から解雇されたという。
　キム氏は謝罪と復職を求めて２０年以上にわたり、サムスンに対する抗議を展開。昨年には首都ソウルの富裕地区・江南にあるサムスン電子のオフィスビル近くで、交通監視カメラが設置された塔によじ登った。
　そうしてキム氏は、頼りとする支持者らが持参する弁当や衣服、携帯電話のバッテリーなどを地上からロープで引き上げて、３５４日間をそこで過ごした。
　だがキム氏は２８日、内容は非公表ながらサムスンと和解に至り、翌２９日夜には支援者らに迎えられながら地上に降り立ち、花束が手渡された。
　キム氏はＡＦＰに対し、「足を伸ばすことすらできないような狭い場所」の上で暮らし、「パニック障害に苦しみ、飛び降りようとする衝動と何度も闘わねばならなかった。サムスンが今後、すべての従業員のいかなる組合活動も本当に保証することを願っている」と述べた。
　これに先立つ数週間前、贈賄罪などに現在問われているサムスンの李在鎔（イ・ジェヨン）副会長は、昨年までの数十年間続いた同社の「組合禁止」方針について謝罪。これを受け、キム氏は抗議活動を終了させる決断に至った。
　サムスンはキム氏に対し、「問題を迅速に解決できなかったこと」について謝罪を表明した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/01-13:07）

A fired Samsung worker ended an aerial protest that lasted almost a year atop a 82-foot high tower in Seoul, after reaching a settlement with the South Korean conglomerate.
Kim Yong-hee, 60, says he was fired by Samsung back in 1995 for trying to set up a labour union.
After spending more than two decades demanding Samsung's apology and reinstatement, he last year climbed up the traffic camera tower in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district, near the office building of Samsung Electronics.
He stayed there for 354 days, relying on supporters to bring him bento meals and supplies of clothes and phone batteries, which he hoisted up from the ground by rope.
After reaching an undisclosed settlement with the firm on Thursday, Kim returned to the ground on Friday evening in presence of well-wishers, who gave him a bouquet of flowers as he landed.
Kim told AFP that he lived on top of such a small space that I could not even stretch my legs.
I suffered panic disorder and had to constantly fight the urge to jump off. ... I hope Samsung will now really guarantee all union activities of all employees, he added.
Kim's decision to end his protest came weeks after Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, currently on trial over corruption charges, apologised for the firm's previous no labour union policy that lasted for decades until last year.
Lee Sang-hoon, the former chairman of Samsung Electronics, was also jailed last year for sabotaging union activities.
The firm apologised to Kim in a statement for failing to promptly solve the issue.
Kim's airborne picket was a superhuman effort, Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean Studies at the University of Oslo, told AFP.
Samsung kept him in the air for a year, thus demonstrating to any other would-be labour activists at its factories that, in case they might wish a fight, the fight is going to be cruel.
Samsung is by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebols, that have propelled South Korea's rise to the world's 12th largest economy.
The firm's overall turnover is equivalent to a fifth of the national gross domestic product and it is crucial to South Korea's economic health.
Its Samsung Electronics subsidiary is also the world's largest smartphone maker.