The Speed at Which the State Draws Its Weapons
May 18, 2 a.m. Today negotiations are to be held in Sejong. But what happened yesterday has already determined the nature of the negotiations outside the negotiation table. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok issued a public address. Flanked by Labor Minister Kim Yeong-hun and Trade Minister Kim Jeong-gwan, he stated, "If the strike causes massive damage to the national economy, the government cannot but consider all possible countermeasures, including emergency adjustment." He stressed that the negotiations on the 18th are "effectively the last chance." It is unprecedented in Korean labor history for a prime minister to personally intervene in labor-management negotiations via live TV broadcast, accompanied by the heads of the two economic ministries. This is not mediation. This is a threat. And the state explained why it goes this far: "Massive damage to the national economy." Five words suffice. If the semiconductor lines stop, the accumulation system stops. If the accumulation system stops, the state draws its weapons.
Look at the trajectory of the last 48 hours. On the 15th, Minister Kim Yeong-hun visited the union office. On the 16th, he held a one-hour meeting with Samsung executives. That same day, Lee Jae-yong made a public apology and replaced the negotiating committee. On the 17th, the prime minister publicly mentioned emergency adjustment power and delivered a national address. Has the transition from carrot to whip ever been so swift? This is not indecision. It is a precisely calculated stepwise pressure. Step 1: Ministerial face-to-face mediation—a signal to both labor and management that the state is watching. Step 2: The prime minister's public address—pressure now comes directly from the highest decision-making line, not the working level. Step 3 is already announced. If negotiations break down today, emergency adjustment will be invoked. And the moment it is invoked, the strike is banned for 30 days, and the Labor Relations Commission's mediation plan is forced through within those 30 days. This is the choice the state presents to workers: compromise, or be forced to compromise. Whether voluntary or forced concession, the result is the same. The strike does not happen. The semiconductor lines do not stop.
Here, the nature of the state becomes clear. The state is not a neutral mediator between labor and capital. The state is the manager of the comprador-monopoly capitalist accumulation system. What matters to the manager is neither workers' rights nor capital's profits. What matters to the manager is the uninterrupted operation of the system. Minister Kim Yeong-hun's visit to the union office, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok's mention of emergency adjustment power, and Lee Jae-yong's apology all converge toward the same goal: ensuring that the semiconductor lines are running normally on the morning of the 21st. Before this goal, the state smiles at workers, but if necessary, it immediately aims a gun at them. That transition took only 48 hours.
On the other side of the globe, a similar thing is happening in a different form. Chinese authorities speak of "two rabbits"—expanding AI automation and maintaining employment. In Qingdao, 1,200 unmanned delivery vehicles are in operation, and within five years, 700,000 robotaxis are expected to be introduced. Some 22 million taxi and delivery workers are directly hit. Last month, the Chinese government issued a recommendation guideline stating that AI should not be used for the purpose of replacing human employment. A recommendation. Neither compulsory nor a veto. At the same time, in 2024, protests against robotaxis occurred in Wuhan, and the authorities' response was to restrict information disclosure. The Economist diagnoses that "China's government has stepped in to slow the pace to minimize social disruption."
South Korea and China—two state-capitalist systems reveal the same essence on different fronts. South Korea's state pulls out emergency adjustment power to block semiconductor workers' strikes. China's state controls the speed of technology introduction to prevent the unemployment and social explosion triggered by AI automation. Different forms, but the same logic of operation: managing labor backlash without interrupting capital accumulation. In South Korea, it takes the form of direct coercion; in China, temporal dispersion. But in both cases, the subject of control is not the worker but the state. Neither the pace of technology adoption nor the legality of strikes is determined by workers. This is the fundamental limit of state capitalism: the state does not protect workers; it manages workers so that they do not threaten the system.
Today's negotiations in Sejong are thus already conditioned. The prime minister's speech is not background music for the negotiation; it is the very rule of the negotiation. "Last chance" means: if you do not compromise, the state will step in directly to strip you of your means of struggle. Under these conditions, what the union can achieve remains to be seen. But one thing has already been achieved. In 48 hours, they made the Prime Minister of South Korea issue a national address, brought the Labor Minister and Trade Minister to stand together, and extracted a public apology from a Samsung chairman for the first time in 88 years. This fact itself is evidence of workers' structural power. The speed at which the state draws its weapons inversely proves the magnitude of the force that made it draw them.
Look at the trajectory of the last 48 hours. On the 15th, Minister Kim Yeong-hun visited the union office. On the 16th, he held a one-hour meeting with Samsung executives. That same day, Lee Jae-yong made a public apology and replaced the negotiating committee. On the 17th, the prime minister publicly mentioned emergency adjustment power and delivered a national address. Has the transition from carrot to whip ever been so swift? This is not indecision. It is a precisely calculated stepwise pressure. Step 1: Ministerial face-to-face mediation—a signal to both labor and management that the state is watching. Step 2: The prime minister's public address—pressure now comes directly from the highest decision-making line, not the working level. Step 3 is already announced. If negotiations break down today, emergency adjustment will be invoked. And the moment it is invoked, the strike is banned for 30 days, and the Labor Relations Commission's mediation plan is forced through within those 30 days. This is the choice the state presents to workers: compromise, or be forced to compromise. Whether voluntary or forced concession, the result is the same. The strike does not happen. The semiconductor lines do not stop.
Here, the nature of the state becomes clear. The state is not a neutral mediator between labor and capital. The state is the manager of the comprador-monopoly capitalist accumulation system. What matters to the manager is neither workers' rights nor capital's profits. What matters to the manager is the uninterrupted operation of the system. Minister Kim Yeong-hun's visit to the union office, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok's mention of emergency adjustment power, and Lee Jae-yong's apology all converge toward the same goal: ensuring that the semiconductor lines are running normally on the morning of the 21st. Before this goal, the state smiles at workers, but if necessary, it immediately aims a gun at them. That transition took only 48 hours.
On the other side of the globe, a similar thing is happening in a different form. Chinese authorities speak of "two rabbits"—expanding AI automation and maintaining employment. In Qingdao, 1,200 unmanned delivery vehicles are in operation, and within five years, 700,000 robotaxis are expected to be introduced. Some 22 million taxi and delivery workers are directly hit. Last month, the Chinese government issued a recommendation guideline stating that AI should not be used for the purpose of replacing human employment. A recommendation. Neither compulsory nor a veto. At the same time, in 2024, protests against robotaxis occurred in Wuhan, and the authorities' response was to restrict information disclosure. The Economist diagnoses that "China's government has stepped in to slow the pace to minimize social disruption."
South Korea and China—two state-capitalist systems reveal the same essence on different fronts. South Korea's state pulls out emergency adjustment power to block semiconductor workers' strikes. China's state controls the speed of technology introduction to prevent the unemployment and social explosion triggered by AI automation. Different forms, but the same logic of operation: managing labor backlash without interrupting capital accumulation. In South Korea, it takes the form of direct coercion; in China, temporal dispersion. But in both cases, the subject of control is not the worker but the state. Neither the pace of technology adoption nor the legality of strikes is determined by workers. This is the fundamental limit of state capitalism: the state does not protect workers; it manages workers so that they do not threaten the system.
Today's negotiations in Sejong are thus already conditioned. The prime minister's speech is not background music for the negotiation; it is the very rule of the negotiation. "Last chance" means: if you do not compromise, the state will step in directly to strip you of your means of struggle. Under these conditions, what the union can achieve remains to be seen. But one thing has already been achieved. In 48 hours, they made the Prime Minister of South Korea issue a national address, brought the Labor Minister and Trade Minister to stand together, and extracted a public apology from a Samsung chairman for the first time in 88 years. This fact itself is evidence of workers' structural power. The speed at which the state draws its weapons inversely proves the magnitude of the force that made it draw them.