20,000 South Korean Strikers Shout Anti-Government Slogans
Sticking to a strike that has idled key South Korean industries, 20,000 workers marched Sunday against a government they accuse of wiping out a tradition of job security with one seven-minute meeting.
“Down with Kim Young Sam! Disband the New Korea Party!” the workers shouted as they marched past President Kim’s ruling party headquarters after a rally near downtown Seoul.
Workers are demanding abolition of a law they believe gives businesses more power to lay off workers. Ruling party legislators passed the law in a secretive predawn session Thursday. There were no opposition members at the meeting, which lasted only seven minutes.
The action sent 373,000 workers on strike, hobbling South Korea’s automobile and shipbuilding plants. Union leaders vowed to continue the protests until the end of January.
The government deployed 15,000 police. Government officials authorized the rally but banned street demonstrations afterward.
A brief scuffle erupted as workers tried to push into party headquarters, but no serious violence was reported.
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