A militant South Korean union grouping said more than 130,000 members would stage work stoppages from yesterday against US beef imports, as religious leaders joined weeks of street protests.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is struggling to end the rallies, which were sparked by fears of mad cow disease but are now increasingly driven by liberal opponents of his new conservative government.
“We will stage an uncompromising struggle against the government, which ignores the people’s right to health,” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said in a statement.
PHOTO: AP
A KCTU spokesman said yesterday’s partial strike would draw some 136,000 workers including those at the country’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor and 29,000 workers at its affiliate Kia Motors.
There was no immediate confirmation of the numbers who would take part.
A Hyundai Motor spokesman said some 44,000 workers would down tools for two hours during both the day and night shifts at its main factory in the southeastern city of Ulsan.
The KCTU said thousands of others who do not take part in yesterday’s stoppages would stage a four-hour partial strike on today.
It said tens of thousands of members plan to travel to Seoul late tomorrow to join candlelight protests against the beef imports on Saturday.
“Yes, this is a political strike. This strike is clearly aimed at protesting against the resumption of beef imports,” KCTU spokesman Park Soung-shik said.
“The government calls it illegal but we don’t think so. Workers are part of the people and we have every right to protect our health,” Park said.
The government is pushing ahead with the distribution of US beef, saying extra negotiations with Washington this month fully addressed public fears over mad cow perils.
The first delivery of 200kg of US beef sold out five hours after it hit the market on Tuesday, said Park Chang-gyu, who heads an association of beef importers. It costs one-third the price of domestic beef.
“Many consumers are asking for US beef,” a shopkeeper at Shihung district in southwest Seoul told JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.
The office of South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo bought 12kg. “The prime minister himself will consume this beef to help dispel public concerns,” a spokesman said.
Seoul agreed in April to resume the US beef imports — which were halted in 2003 after a US mad cow case — so it can push ahead with a wider trade deal.
After mass rallies, it negotiated extra beef safeguards and called for the protests to stop, saying they are damaging the economy.
But the rallies, some of them violent, continued.
More than 200 people were injured overnight Saturday and police vowed a crackdown on illegal demonstrations.
In a new twist, Catholic priests, Buddhist monks and Protestant pastors this week joined the candlelit protests.
Hong Joon-pyo, parliamentary leader of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), said they are complicating the situation.
“The flames of the candlelit protests, which had been fluttering out, are being rekindled by some liberal religious leaders,” Hong said at a meeting of GNP leaders.
“If the government, following 10 years of liberal rule, failed to anticipate this degree of resistance from progressive forces, it would deserve a label of naivete,” he said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS