Korean Workers Resist Trump’s $350 Billion Cash Extraction

 By Simone Chun Korea Update

“It Could Create Ten Million Jobs in Korea, Not Fuel American-Style Plunder”

The Most Powerful Weapon of Workers Is Solidarity

My husband and I, who rarely eat out, have scheduled a dinner meeting next week — a gathering of former Microsoft employees who were recently laid off. They say it will be a valuable opportunity to share job information and support one another. Fair enough. For both laid-off and still-employed workers, solidarity remains an essential weapon.

I heard this same message years ago while preparing my doctoral dissertation, when I interviewed South Korean workers. They all emphasized: “Solidarity is the weapon of survival for working people. Workers must unite.” Even here in the United States, I draw strength from the ongoing efforts of Korean workers organizing and standing up again.

Case in point–the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which led the charge in ousting Yoon Suk-yeol, returned to the streets to confront Trump’s tariff threats. This is the same KCTU that played a central role in the impeachments of Park Geun-hye and Yoon Suk-yeol, now rising once more. After driving Yoon from office, the flames of resistance are reigniting in Korea’s public squares — this time opposing coercive U.S. tariffs. It is inspiring.

The struggle of Korea’s workers and younger generation to defend economic sovereignty bridges Seoul and the industrial city of Ulsan. On October 25, the KCTU held simultaneous rallies in Ulsan’s manufacturing, automobile, and shipbuilding districts and at Seoul’s Sungnyemun Gate, demanding the full withdrawal of Washington’s $350 billion cash extraction threat. Participants marched from Sungnyemun to the U.S. Embassy, chanting: “Stop economic exploitation! Stop job destruction! No to Trump! End submissive negotiations! Withdraw the U.S. investment demand entirely!” Progressive Party co-representative Kim Jae-yeon added, “The people will no longer tolerate a government that bows to the United States.”

This moment marks a symbolic return of the KCTU to the public square, defending South Korea’s economic sovereignty against U.S. coercion. The threats — forced extraction of $350 billion, tariff bombs on auto parts, and currency swap leverage — are being condemned as economic aggression and neocolonial exploitation. In both Ulsan and Seoul, workers declared “No to Trump,” taking another step toward a broader struggle reminiscent of the resistance three years ago.

KCTU Chair Yang Kyung-su reminded the crowd that even the impeachments of Park Geun-hye and Yoon Suk-yeol once seemed impossible — yet people’s resistance and solidarity made them possible. He urged that, without giving up, the KCTU must again lead the citizens’ movement. “Trump’s demands,” he said, “could create ten million jobs paying $36,000 a year — the same amount he’s demanding from South Korea. It’s time to resist this American-style plunder with determination.”

Korean workers’ longstanding culture of organization and resistance is rare among unions globally. At a webinar, American activists who admired this spirit asked me about their role in Korea’s democracy and economic justice movements. Indeed, their unity continues to be one of the most powerful forces in progressive change, showing that workers together can make the impossible possible and create hope amid despair.