NLCF Members Clash with Police in Front of National Assembly

A clash between the estimated 3,300 members of the National Livestock Cooperatives Federation (NLCF), who desperately tried to gain entry into the National Assembly in opposition of a law integrating the NLCF and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF), and the police who has tried to blockade their access to it, broke out on August 13, leaving dozens of NLCF members badly hurt.
They were demonstrating in front of the National Assembly, headquaters of the National Congress for New Politics and the Grand National Party, for one-and-a-half hours from 6:30 a.m. today, brandishing bars and throwing stones at the policemen controlling the demonstration.
As a result of the violence, 30 NCLF members have sustained bodily or head injuries after blows from truncheons wielded by police.
They insisted in the protest rally that the disembowelment committed by NLCF Chairman Shin Ku-bom, which took place in the National Assembly on Augut 12, was in opposition to the legalization of the integrated law, which they were not consulted on and does not represent their views.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said that it will embark on integrating the NLCF and NACF if the law is passed in the National Assembly, regardless of the unexpected clashes.
However, the NLCF labor union held an emergency rally and a news conference, and then declared a massive strike, adding that it will struggle to make the law invalid.
Seo Jang-soo:jsbee@joongang.co.kr