The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) demanded that the Korean government refuse to grant an export license for a huge shipment of tear gas to Bahrain. Campaigners from BahrainWatch have exposed how the Bahrain authorities are seeking to replenish their supplies of tear gas after the massive wave of repression this summer against opposition groups calling for democratic reforms.

The KCTU wrote to the Defence Acquisition Programme Administration, which oversees the defence industry and the National Police Agency, saying:

“Recently, Bahraini government had indiscriminately fired large amount of tear gas and resulted in hundreds of casualties. According to ‘Bahrain Watch’, most of the tear gas used by Bahraini police are made from Korea. Already 1.5 million canisters have been exported to Bahrain and 3.5 million are to be exported.

The canister collected by ‘Bahrain Watch’ was made by the company named ‘Daekwang Chemical Corporation’. One cannot avoid condemnation, both in humanitarian and international standard sense, by exporting Korean canisters to the country where hundreds are either being killed or injured by them.

Since your department is in charge of tear gas canister exportation, we ask for your cooperation in stopping the canister exportation by ‘Daekwang Chemical Corporation’ so that Bahraini people can no longer be suppressed or be killed.”

What you can do:

• Go to Stoptheshipment.org for information on how you can help the campaign