Dozens of supporters of laid off South Korean Hydis Technologies workers demonstrated outside the National Immigration Agency in Taipei yesterday, calling for the release of eight South Korean protesters arrested and sent to a detention center on Tuesday night. The eight were later deported.
The eight, including Lee Mi-ra, the widow of former Hydis union leader Bae Jae-hyoung, who committed suicide last month after reportedly receiving legal threats from Hydis management, were arrested at about 7pm on Tuesday night and sent to a foreigners’ detention center in New Taipei City, where they were thought to have been interrogated.
Bae, with workers from a Hydis factory in Incheon, South Korea, came to Taiwan in February and March to protest against a decision by Taiwanese e-paper manufacturer E-Ink Holdings to close the factory.
Photo: CNA
E-Ink Holdings, which acquired Hydis — a plasma display manufacturer — in 2008, is a subsidiary of Yuen Foong Yu (YFY) Group.
The South Korean union members returned to Taiwan after Bae’s death. With local supporters, they camped outside the Taipei residence of YFY Group chairman Ho Shou-chuan (何壽川) beginning on May 26 and set up a shrine for Bae.
Two South Korean union members started a hunger strike on Thursday last week.
Dozens of Taiwanese supporters gathered outside Zhongzheng First Police Precinct on Tuesday night to protest against the arrests — said to be on charges of violating the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法) and the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) — as well as against the eviction of the protesters from Renai Road, the site of Ho’s residence and Bae’s shrine.
The demonstrators refused to disperse after warnings from police and were removed by force at about 3am yesterday, with some reporting minor injuries.
Supporters gathered again outside the immigration agency at about 9am yesterday, denouncing the detentions of the South Koreans, which they said lasted more than 12 hours.
After police issued disciplinary orders based on the Social Order Maintenance Act, the agency took over and would arrange the deportations of the eight in accordance with the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), which states that aliens shall be forcibly deported if they are “believed to endanger national interests, public security, public order or the good customs of the state,” the immigration agency said.
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights said in a press release that the workers would be deported at 3:45pm and that a news conference would be held at 3:15pm at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport).
While reports said that the immigration agency prohibited the eight from speaking publicly, a speech in front of reporters was made possible through the mediation of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), sources said.
After a scuffle involving police, protest supporters and reporters, Hydis union member Lee Sang-mok — surrounded by officers — made a brief statement that was translated by association office director Yen Szu-yu (顏思妤).
The demonstrators had been “violently” arrested and transferred to the National Immigration Agency, where they asked that the two workers who had been on hunger strike be deported only after recovering their health, “but the request was not answered,” Lee said.
“Although the time of our stay was short, we have seen candid support from Taiwanese and civic groups. Although we have to leave in this manner, we will definitely return,” he said, calling on Ho to face their demands squarely “as one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) national policy advisers.”
“Retract the factory closure; retract the layoffs,” Lee shouted in Mandarin before being escorted away.
Yen said the deportees would not be allowed re-entry for the next two years, but that Taiwanese would continue to cooperate with the laid off workers on the issue.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS