[Unofficial translation provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

“Korean Optical dismissed worker to come down after 600 days… “Preparing for a greater struggle on the ground””, 28 August 2025

Park Jung-hye (41), a dismissed worker from Korean Optical Hi-Tech who has been staging a high-altitude protest demanding reinstatement, will end her protest on 29 August—600 days since it began. It marks the longest known rooftop protest in the world.

On 28 August, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) stated: “Deputy branch chair Park Jung-hye of the Korean Optical Hi-Tech chapter will come down on the 600th day of the protest. On the same day, the Democratic Party, government, and presidential office will issue a joint declaration promising to facilitate labour-management negotiations and legislate new regulations on foreign-invested companies. Following this declaration, Park will end her protest, and the union will prepare for a broader struggle on the ground.”

…The decision to end the protest followed a commitment by the government and the Democratic Party to initiate formal dialogue between the company and union. …

…Korean Optical Hi-Tech is a subsidiary of Japan’s Nitto Denko Group. In 2004, the company established a plant in the foreign investment zone of Gumi, receiving benefits such as a 50-year free land lease and tax exemptions in return for local job creation. After a fire destroyed the plant in 2022, production was shifted to its affiliate in Pyeongtaek (Korea Nitto Optical), and the Gumi plant was closed. Around 210 workers were laid off through a voluntary retirement programme, while 17 who refused were dismissed.

…The union has demanded employment succession to the Pyeongtaek site. Park began the rooftop protest on 8 January 2023 with union organiser So Hyun-sook, climbing to the top of a 9-metre-high factory building. So ended her protest on 27 April this year, the 476th day, due to deteriorating health.