On this day, 11 August 1979, 2,000 riot police attacked 187 women workers in Seoul, South Korea, who had been occupying the headquarters of the opposition New Democratic Party in protest at closure of the YH wig factory they worked at. The women had taken over the fourth floor hall two days previously.
The US-backed military dictatorship completely ignored the demands of the workers, instead deciding to violently repress them. One woman, Kim Kyung Sook, was killed by police, while the union leaders were arrested and the other workers sent home by bus.
The violence against the women provoked widespread outrage against the government, and was a major contributor to the uprisings which swept Busan and Masan a few weeks later, after which the dictator was assassinated by his head of intelligence.
Learn more about this time period in South Korean people’s history in our podcast episode 51: https://workingclasshistory.com/2021/03/24/e51-jeon-tae-il-and-lee-so-sun/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1782105265307949/?type=3