In October, the tent that was made by SYM’s laid-off workers to protest in front of the Pyeongtaek station disappeared. They had struggled to fix SYM’s problems such as fictional accounting, investigation of the actual cause of the lay-offs and the reappointment of the laid-off workers who were laid off in the past two and half years. In 2009, the Supreme Court judged that the dismissal notices of the company were unfair. However, on November 13th, the Supreme Court reversed the original verdict and judged ‘dismissal notices were available for operational need’. A party of SYM’s laid-off workers announced that they will make steady progress of the protest, such as a manned demonstration in front of the Pyeongtaek station and one bow for each three steps from SYM factory in Pyeongtaek to a law court. On November 15th, after the judgment of the Supreme Court came out, laid-off workers assembled a 2,000-day rally on schedule in front of the SYM factory front gate in Pyeongtaek.
  Actually, SYM’s main problems were fictional accounting and intentional bankruptcy. In 2005, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation(SAIC) took over SYM at a cost of 590 billion won, but SYM was valued 1,2 trillion won. Also, SAIC promised strong support for SYM. However, SAIC invested nothing. On the contrary, SAIC made a computer network that can read SYM’s computerized system in Korea and then took technical blueprints and 50 core technicians to China. Also, Diesel Hybrid Technologies, which were made by the Government Administration, were included in the things they took. At that time, the National Intelligence Service posed a problem about leaks of technology, but the government ignored it. In 2008, SAIC willingly proposed bankruptcy of SYM though they were a large stockholder. Anjin, an accounting firm of SYM at that time, valued the tangible assets of SYM at 868 billion won. However, it was a collusion by SAIC and Anjin. The real tangible assets were 1,9 trillion won, according to the Korea Appraisal Board. Taking this into consideration, SYM had a better performance than other companies at that time. Nonetheless, the government approved the fake account book and SAIC went back to China without any criticism.
  The government had many chances to fix the SYM problem. However, the government ignored measures and laid-off about 3,000 workers on the basis of the fake accounting book. After that, the government sold SYM to Mahindra at a low price. Also, the government made artificial mass media to avoid public sympathy for SYM’s laid-off workers. Therefore, the public didn’t know about the causes of the SYM problem. This situation still remains the same. Now, a large majority of the public has a negative opinion of the SYM laid-off workers. If these problems are not solved, it could happen again. We need vigilant eyes to grasp the situation as a whole.

By Oh Ah-ra

ar34@cbnu.ac.kr