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UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings took his labour rights message to South Korea's parliament to ramp up pressure on President Park Geun-Hye to end her government’s fierce clampdown on trade unions.

During a whirlwind day of meetings and media engagements, Jennings met with Korea’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister as well as delivering a speech at the national assembly.

The UNI Chief was in Korea offering the global union movement’s support to embattled trade unions. President Park’s anti-labour drive has seen unions banned, union offices raided and ransacked, leaders and members arrested and punishing legal damages levelled against individual union members.

Korea has refused to adhere to ILO standards and decisions and has broken commitments made to the OECD. The government, Jennings says, is acting inconsistently with the terms of its trade deal with the European Union.

“This is serious, it’s profound, and it shows that the Korean government is turning its back on the global community,” Jennings said.

“President Park travels the world meeting global leaders and she needs to know that this problem will follow her. The global labour movement will keep this alive and the pressure will continue.”

Korea, once held as an example of how to successfully partner economic growth with wealth equality, is now suffering deep inequalities. The elderly population is coming under particular strain, with 49 per cent now living in poverty. Korea’s suicide rate amongst elderly people is the highest in the OECD.

The government is backtracking on its pre-election promises of fair pensions for all. Speaking at the Korean parliament, Jennings said, “I have come to show our support for legislation to fix what I consider to be a national pension emergency.”

“I find it shocking that half of all elderly people could be living in poverty in one of the world’s most developed nations.”

Jennings later took to the streets with Korea’s former Prime Minister to campaign for innovative new legislation to provide health care to service sector workers suffering emotional stress. He also addressed a rally of 500 healthcare workers protesting the privatisation of medical services.