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starts the 5 o'clock news on the first day of May. On the occasion of the 8rd Labor Day and Workers' Day, the Democratic Workers' Union and the Korea Workers' Union held mass rallies across the country today (133st). The rally participants strongly criticized the government's labour policy, predicting a general strike in July this year. In the midst of this, in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, a construction union official who was about to be examined for an arrest warrant attempted self-immolation and is currently unconscious.

Today's first news, reporter Lee Taekwon.

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Members of the Democratic Workers' Union with
red signs filled the area of Sejong-daero in Seoul.

Organizers estimated 1,7 people and police estimated 4,2 people attended the World Labor Day Games.

They defined the first year of Yoon Seok-yeol's regime as a time of labor repression and announced a general strike in July.

[Yang Kyung-so/Chairman of the Democratic Workers' Union Committee: One year into the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, our society is in a terrible state of ruin. Even though the working people are unbearable, the economy and people's livelihood are on the back burner.]

After the rally, participants marched in the direction of President Yongsan's office, chanting for shorter working hours and revision of labor laws, and clashed as they pushed the police barrier with force.

Police arrested four union members on suspicion of breaking a safety fence and assaulting a police officer.



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In the Yeouido area of Seoul, an estimated 3,1 members of the Korean Workers' Union and an estimated 5,5 members of the police gathered for the National Workers' Congress.

It has been seven years since the Korea Workers' Congress held a workers' congress on May 1, and the government focused on ways to revamp the working hour system.

[Kim Dong-myung/Chairman of the Korea Workers' Union: Let me ask President Yoon Seok-yeol and Minister of Labor Lee Jung-jung: Is the 7-hour workweek really for workers?]

The General Confederation of Civil Service Trade Unions called for a guarantee of a Labor Day holiday, an increase in basic delivery fees for delivery workers, and a guarantee of labor rights for persons with disabilities by the National Coalition for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities.

In Daejeon, Ulsan, Gwangju, and other parts of the country, protests by trade union members also followed.

In Gangneung, Mr. A, an official of a construction union in Gangwon who was about to be examined for an arrest warrant for forcing union members to hire union members at a construction site, attempted to self-immolate in front of the court and fell into a critical condition.

Earlier, Mr. A wrote, "I did union activities legitimately, but they say it is obstruction and blackmail," and "my pride does not allow it."

(Video Interview: Nam Sung Kim, Choi Woong, Lee Sanghak, Video Editing: Kim Jun-hee, CG: Jang Sung-beom, Screen credit: Minjoo Chong)