Hello and thank you for downloading the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service.

This week we're bringing you stories about industrial action.

Pak Young-Jun takes us back to 1980 when a strike in the city of Guangju became one of the

most divisive moments in South Korean history and led to the imprisonment and torture of

activist Bae Yok-Byung.

This programme contains descriptions of torture.

The riots in South Korea are reported to have spread.

The demonstrators are calling for democratic elections and an end to martial law.

30,000 students were on the streets battling with police.

In May 1980, South Korea's military government was facing strike and demonstrations across

the country.

Students and workers protested for their rights to democratic freedom, culminating in Guangju

massacre.

These demonstrations would have wide-reaching consequences for the whole country.

The fighting reached for hours into the night and similar disturbances were reported from

two provincial towns.

Bae Yok-Byung was a 22-year-old worker at one of South Korea's largest producers of

wigs at the guru industrial complex in Seoul, who was imprisoned for her role in the fight

for workers' rights.

Bae told me about her experience.

When I first joined the company, there were about 1,200 female workers.

99% of them lived in the company dormitory, who were not allowed to go out except for

...