Pyongyang, November 22 (KCNA) -- The puppet police of south Korea on Nov. 18 arrested Jong Jin U, room chief of the opposition New Progressive Party (NPP), and poet Song Kyong Dong for the reason that they voiced solidarity with workers' strike against the unreasonable layoff at the Hanjin Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.

The NPP released a statement that day in denunciation of the police's crackdown.

The police's arrest of them is retaliation for their support to the struggle for vital rights staged by workers of the Hanjin Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., the statement said.

It added the authorities' repression would touch off bigger resentment from people to be followed by more vigorous solidarity struggle.

The statement demanded the police release the detainees and cancel its retaliatory investigation.

The south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a press conference outside the Pusan district court on Nov. 19 to assail the puppet security authorities' fascist suppression.