KOREA
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(C) South China Post
South Korea
Violence looms as unionists down tools
AGENCIES in Seoul
Updated at 1.49pm:
More than 100,000 South Korean union workers at Hyundai Motor and other work sites downed tools on Wednesday as scheduled, defying authorities' threats to use force to break up strikes and arrest labour leaders.
The prospect of violence drove South Korea's main stock index down more than three per cent in early afternoon trade, after the slumping 15 per cent this week to an 11-year low.
Tension escalated on Tuesday when prosecutors urged employers to lock out workers if the action went on too long.
In an unusual public statement, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office said the strikes were ''clearly illegal''.
The unionists responded on Wednesday by confirming two days of scheduled strikes across the country.
''All our member workers at 45 worksites went on strike from 1pm (0400 GMT) as scheduled,'' said a leader of the Korean Metal Workers' Federation, the core arm of the militant union umbrella group that called the strike.
Some 125 unions across the nation and 120,000 of the confederation's 560,000 members were so far scheduled to join the strike, union leaders said.
The head of South Korea's militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) confirmed the two-day action at a press conference, prompting the market to slide further.
KCTU head Lee Kap-yong said the two days of ''all-out'' strikes would start at 1pm (0400 GMT).
However, the KCTU would continue talks with the government even during strikes, he said.
Spokesman Kim Hyong-man said: ''We have failed to narrow differences with the government. It looks like we have no other choice.''
The president of Hyundai's main labour union, Kim Kwang Shik, said: ''The strike is our cry for survival. If we are pushed out of our jobs, we can't support ourselves.''
Mr Kim said only a fifth of the country's jobless had been able to find new jobs.
South Korean companies, including Hyundai, say they must cut staff to weather the first recession in 18 years.
In April, a record 1.434 million people were out of work, with the economy contracting.
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