Local News in Brief : Reporters Strike at Korea Times

Editors at the Los Angeles Edition of The Korea Times were producing a newspaper half the usual size as negotiations continued with reporters who went on strike Wednesday in a dispute over wages and benefits. The newspaper circulates 45,000 copies each day in Southern California and is the largest Korean-language daily outside of Korea.

The reporters, whose starting pay is $1,200 a month, are asking for an 80% raise, more overtime pay, reinstatement of canceled employee dental and medical insurance policies and an increase in annual vacation from 8 to 10 days, according to spokesman Hong Kyun Lee.

Management agreed to the insurance and vacation requests and responded to the overtime and salary requests about 1:30 a.m. Thursday with an offer of an across-the-board increase of $400 a month for all 260 employees of the company. City Editor Tom Byun said Thursday that the offer by the company was “generous” and negotiations should be nearing a resolve. But the offer was rejected 25 to 1 when reporters voted on it later Thursday.