Man ends 355day tower protest

SEOUL — A South Korean man who spent 355 days at the top of a slender trafficcamera tower in a protest against Samsung ended his demonstration Friday after the company apologized and agreed to resolve his grievances.

The man, Kim Yonghee, 60, climbed the 82foot tower near Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul on June 10, demanding that the tech giant apologize and offer compensation for what he called its illegal decision to fire him 25 years ago for union activism. He chose his midair protest site, overlooking the busiest intersection in the South Korean capital, to highlight his grievance against the country’s most powerful conglomerate.

“I hope my struggle helps Samsung build a new managementlabor relationship,” Kim told the South Korean news media after climbing down Friday.

He decided to end his protest after Samsung agreed to meet some of his demands. But other than the apology, the details of the signed agreement between Samsung and Kim’s representatives were not disclosed.

“The company expresses its apology to Mr. Kim Yonghee for not resolving the issue sooner and also offers a word of consolation to his family,” Samsung said in its apology sent to the news media.

Kim said Samsung had fired him in 1995 for trying to organize an independent labor union. Since then, his life has been an endless series of sitins and hunger strikes near the company’s headquarters, demanding his job back, compensation and an apology.