A Single Spark – the Biography of Chun Tae-il

(English, 2003, 336pp)
Remembered as the founding father of the Korean independent trade union movement, Chun Tae-il immolated himself dramatically at the age of 22 years old in November 1970. He was shouting “Follow the Labour Standards Law”, “We are not machines” when his body was on fire in a protest against the Labour Law not able to protect Korean workers. Until today, many Korean labour activists keep telling me that his death inspired their commitment to the labour movement, especially the young students and intellectuals who disguised themselves working and organising workers at the shop floor level in the formative days of the independent labour movement in the early 70s.