BBC News Online has some nice photos, too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 12 June, 2001, 09:19 GMT 10:19 UK
Strike cripples South Korea
Tens of thousands of workers in South Korea went on strike on Tuesday, crippling airline services and other major industries.
"If we cannot restore social order, foreign investors will stop investing in Korea" President Kim
Defying warnings of a crackdown by the government, the workers walked out of their workplaces demanding higher pay and for the government to abandon its economic restructuring programme, which has led to thousands of job losses.
President Kim Dae-jung has declared the strikes illegal, and warned they were a threat to social stability and global competition, saying investors would turn to China and south-east Asia instead.
"We will become a loser overnight in global competition if we stop restructuring," he said in a statement.
President Kim said the government would deal sternly with the illegal walkout and any violence.
State prosecutors have already warned they were taking steps to arrest leaders of the Korean Air pilots' union.
Flights grounded
Some 50,000 unionised workers at more than 120 factories joined the protests, according to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a militant nationwide labor umbrella group.
However, the government claimed the numbers to be significantly less, saying disputes were being resolved at dozens of locations through last-minute negotiations.
Thousands of staff from Korean Air and the domestic airline, Asiana, joined the strike, forcing Korean Air to cancel 60% of its international services.
Korean Air said about 80% of its fleet would inevitably be grounded.
Militant South Korean unions in metal, chemical and heavy industrial companies also downed tools.
The nationwide strike could escalate with hospital workers at large hospitals vowing to join the walkout on Wednesday.
The KCTU, which claims 500,000 members, is also demanding the government allow a five-day workweek and improve working conditions for non-regular workers.
South Korea is still recovering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which forced the country to accept a $58.35bn rescue package of the International Monetary Fund. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And today, hospital workers did join...
Wednesday, 13 June, 2001, 07:07 GMT 08:07 UK
Hospital workers join South Korea strike
Thousands of hospital workers in South Korea have joined airline and manufacturing workers in a second day of strikes that the government has declared illegal.
The county's two airlines said most of their flights would be delayed or cancelled.
Workers are demanding pay increases and an end to government-led economic restructuring that has led to thousands of job losses.
The hospital walkout, including one at Seoul National University Hospital, affected administrative operations and some medical services.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said hospital staff would work normally in emergency and intensive-care units.
"About 7,000 staff at eight hospitals nationwide have walked out from this morning," said spokesman Sohn Nak-kyo.
Arrest threats
The KCTU said six other hospitals planned to join the action on Thursday and Saturday. But unions said fewer people than expected were taking part, after riot police stormed a tower on a petrochemical plant in the southern city of Ulsan on Tuesday night to arrest eight union leaders.
Trade unionists had occupied the Hyosung Company tower since last Tuesday, defying 3,600 riot police who stormed the factory then to end a two-week sit-in.
After a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Lee Han-Dong called on security authorities to launch a crackdown on strike organisers.
The government is under pressure from economists and foreign investors to keep its reforms on track.
Police have threatened to arrest 14 airline union leaders for calling an illegal walkout. And unions at three college hospitals called off their strike threat after overnight negotiations with management.
The number of strikers has fallen to 41,000 from 48,000 on Tuesday, according to the KCTU. The labour ministry said the number was smaller.
Flight chaos
Hundreds of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines flights remain grounded. A Korean Air spokesman said about 82 percent of its 356 scheduled flights would be cancelled on Wednesday.
Union leaders walked out of the latest marathon talks with the airline management late on Tuesday and returned to a Seoul university campus where about 600 pilots are staging a sit-in.
"We have not reached any agreement on any point," a union spokesman said.
But Korean Air officials said progress had been made on some issues, including the union's demand for a reduction in the number of foreign pilots employed by the airline.
Thousands of striking workers marched through Seoul on Tuesday, chanting "Down with President Kim Dae-jung's government", but no violence was reported.
President Kim took office in early 1998 with strong union support, vowing to revitalise an economy that had been badly hit by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Tensions have been mounting since a violent police crackdown in April against protests by workers laid off by the bankrupt Daewoo Motor Company, which is seeking a takeover by General Motors Corp.