Strike Cripples Rail Service in S. Korea

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Strike Cripples Rail Service in S. Korea

South Korea's railroad trains, power generation and gas production were affected Monday, as public-sector workers walked off their jobs after late-night negotiations failed.

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South Korea's railroad trains, power generation and gas production were affected Monday, as public-sector workers walked off their jobs after late-night negotiations failed.

Workers of the Korea Gas Corporation reached an agreement Monday afternoon with their management and will return to their workplaces Tuesday, but the standoff between the government and the railroad and electricity workers continued.

"We perfectly respect the rights of labor," said President Kim Dae-jung. "But labor unions should not use violence and should abide by the law" - an indication that the government will not stand for the strikes, which are illegal against public corporations.

The militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions vowed, however, "We will dispatch 100,000 union members from 140 different unions if the government and the management do not come up with a feasible plan by Tuesday afternoon."

Late Monday night, the federation's leader, Lee Nam-sun, and the labor minister, Bang Yong-suk, were negotiating intensely in hopes of reaching a deal.

The standoff was triggered by government plans to privatize the three state-run corporations, as well as by local workplace grievances.

Some 6,000 railway union workers, 28 percent of the membership, participated in the strike, including 1,500 out of 3,200 locomotive engineers.

All deluxe Samaeul trains were idle and most of the Mugunhwa, or average, trains. Opening of the Bupyeong-Juan section of the Gyeongin Line connecting Seoul and Incheon, planned for Wednesday, was put off indefinitely.

Commuter cars jammed roads in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon, turning the throughways surrounding the capital into a near parking lot.

Subway trains fared somewhat better. The railway corporation reported that 67 percent of them operated in Seoul and parts of Gyeonggi province.

Most freight trains, too, were stopped. The Ministry of Construction and Transportation estimated the cost to the railways of Monday's strike at 2.8 billion won ($2.2 million). The ministry recruited 200 labor union members and soldiers to increase the train operations.

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