Another Expansion of DNA Databases: South Korea Collects DNA from Labor Unionists

Posted by Jillian Theil April 14, 2011
Biopolitical Times

Under a South Korean law that went into effect last July, South Korean prosecutors have issued a controversial summons to collect DNA samples from six labor unionists found guilty of violence during strikes. The law established a national DNA database, which allows DNA samples to be taken from “those accused or convicted of 11 violent crimes, including robbery, arson, drug trafficking, rape, and sexual assault against minors.”

But this move is drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights groups, who are claiming that this application of the law is an unnecessary expansion of the DNA database.They are planning to respond to the prosecution’s actions by filing a constitutional petition.

Unions are worried that the action equates unionists with rapists and murderers. An editorial in The Hankyoreh noted:

Strikes are both the core of the basic labor rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the most powerful means of protecting a worker’s survival rights. It is also necessarily expressed through collective action.

Even if it is unavoidable to hold workers responsible for physical clashes that occur during that process, it is unacceptable to treat them as though they were habitual and shameless criminals. This cannot be seen as anything but contempt for workers and their rights.

There is also concern that DNA collection will serve as a “psychological cowing of workers,” which will weaken the labor movement in South Korea.

South Korea is not the only country experiencing controversy and debate over its DNA database. China just announced a program to collect DNA from "stray kids" who may have been abducted; some parents are said to be both pleased and suspicious of official motives. Britain, however, recently rolled back its police DNA database, due to concerns that it eroded citizen’s civil liberties.

In the US, states have been increasingly exploring DNA database expansion (1, 2) without, in most cases, giving much consideration to such rights. And, in some quarters, there is a growing climate of opposition to unions and collective bargaining. Could a controversy similar to the South Korean case be on the horizon for the US too?


Previously on Biopolitical Times: