'The participants demanded expansion of labour law for all workers'
Workers wearing costumes from the popular Netflix show "Squid Game" marched through the streets of South Korea as part of a strike organised by the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). The one-day strike called for better working conditions for irregular workers and a minimum wage hike, according to The Straits Times in a report.
"The participants demanded expansion of labour law for all workers, abolition of precarious works, just transition based on strong voices of workers, and stronger public services and bigger responsibility of state for jobs and care," the KCTU said in a Facebook post.
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Notably, some workers on the streets were wearing jumpsuits inspired by the Netflix show "Squid Game," an internationally acclaimed South Korean series that follows the story 456 players competing to win a massive cash prize or risk losing their lives. The union workers donning the outfit claimed that they understand the struggle to make a living that the characters in the series faced, reported Channel News Asia.
Initial estimates from the government placed the number of attendees to 50,000, Yonhap News Agency reported, but the union said 80,000 of their 1.1 million members joined the protests.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said that it will file complaints with all the participants of the rally, after they defied the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, Yonhap also reported.
Seoul and the greater capital area, which are under Level 4 of social distancing rules, are prohibiting large-scale protests in a bid to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19.
