From: "Curtis Price" <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Tue, 7 Jan 1997 04:38:56 +0000
Subject:       (Fwd) [73] KOREAN WORKERS VOW TO CONTINUE STRIKE AGAINST NEW L


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Sat, 4 Jan 1997 14:48:56 -0500
From:          NewsHound-AT-sjmercury.com (NewsHound)
To:            cansv-AT-igc.apc.org
Subject:       [73] KOREAN WORKERS VOW TO CONTINUE STRIKE AGAINST NEW LABOR LAW

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "STRIKES". The selectivity score was
 73 out of 100.

Korean workers vow to continue strike against new labor law
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Thousands of workers marched in Seoul and other 
cities Saturday, vowing to continue a week-old strike that has idled South 
Korea's busy car factories.

Auto workers renewed their strikes Friday after the New Year holidays. Union 
leaders say tens of thousands of other workers will join the protest next week.

Workers want the government to repeal the new law, which makes it easier for 
companies to lay off workers. Ruling party lawmakers approved the law Dec. 26 in
 an early morning session with no opposition members present. The opposition had
 refused to participate in a vote.

On Saturday, 2,000 workers protested in Seoul, shouting ``Abolish the evil 
law!'' while pumping their fists into the cold winter air.

At a rally in Seoul's Myongdong Cathedral, workers singing labor songs gathered 
around a wooden coffin and a funeral photo frame bearing the word ``democracy.''

Police detained 10 students for questioning after 500 students spilled into an 
eight-lane avenue, shouting ``Down with (President) Kim Young-sam!''

The national news agency Yonhap reported similar rallies and marches in Kwangju,
 150 miles south of Seoul, and in Inchon, a port city west of the capital. No 
clashes or arrests were reported.

Although South Korea's No. 1 carmaker, Hyundai Motor Co., and two other huge car
 factories -- Kia and Asia -- remained shut, government officials say the 
protests are fizzling.

Kumho Tire Co., a major tire maker, reopened, while workers at Daewoo and 
Ssangyong car factories stopped picketing for the weekend.

Overall, the number of striking workers dropped to 40,000 Saturday, according to
 the Confederation of Trade Unions, an outlawed labor group.

The group organized the nation's largest-ever labor protests last week, when 
some 350,000 workers walked out. On Friday, some 90,000 workers responded to 
union's call to renew the strikes after the New Year holidays.

AP-WS-01-04-97 1328EST


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