South Korean truckers voted yesterday to end a weeks-long strike that has hammered supply chains and businesses in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The strike, which started on Nov. 24 over minimum pay, delayed the supply of goods worth an estimated 3.5 trillion won (US$2.69 billion) in its first 12 days, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol slammed the strike action as “a danger to the economy.”
Photo: AP
On Thursday the government ordered truckers in the fuel and steel sectors to return to work or face the possibility of going to jail or a fine.
“A majority of votes were cast in favor of ending the strike and returning to work,” the 25,000-strong Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union said in a statement.
More than 60 percent of those who voted supported ending the strike, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
With fuel prices rising, the drivers had demanded the government make permanent a “safe freight rate” minimum pay scheme, which is set to expire at the end of the year.
The government said last month it would extend the program for three years.
Truckers said more of them would become vulnerable to overwork and safety risks without a permanent minimum wage guarantee.
South Korea has one of the highest industrial fatality rates for a rich economy, with more than 4,000 work-related deaths reported from 2020 to last year, South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor said.
Over a few hours under gray skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, in a demonstration of US military power in some of the world’s most hotly contested waters. MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet jets bearing pilot call signs such as “Fozzie Bear,” “Pig Sweat” and “Bongoo” emit deafening screams as they land in the drizzle on the Nimitz, which is leading a carrier strike group that entered the South China Sea two weeks ago. US Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, who is commanding the group, said the tour
RISING RISK: With no communication between nations flying jets closely over the South China Sea, one mistake by a pilot could quickly escalate a situation, an expert said The China Coast Guard (CCG) maintained near-daily patrols at key features across the disputed South China Sea last year, ramping up its presence as tensions over the waterway with Southeast Asian neighbors remain high, new tracking data shows. Patrols in the waters surrounding the Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, an area known for its oil and gas reserves and the site of repeated standoffs between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels, more than doubled to 310 days last year, the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said. The number of days Chinese ships patrolled near Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha
A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
‘DISTURBING’: Nearly half of 16 to 21-year-olds assumed that girls either ‘expect’ or ‘enjoy’ sex which involves physical aggression, such as airway restriction One in 10 children have watched pornography by the time they are nine years old, according to “disturbing” new research by the children’s commissioner for England. The report found that one-quarter of pupils in their final year of primary school had already been exposed. It also showed much of the material being consumed by children and young people featured violence. Four out of five (79 percent) of those surveyed had seen pornography involving violence by the age of 18, while one in three young people have actively sought out depictions of sexual violence such as physical aggression, coercion and degradation. The report, by
RSS