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SEOUL : Striking truckers in South Korea threatened Saturday to block the country's largest port, stepping up a campaign that has already severely hit operations there.
The truckers' union said it would seal off the southern port of Busan, through which three-quarters of South Korea's shipping containers pass, unless its demand for a 65-percent wage increase was met.
The strikers also tried to prevent non-union members from carrying out their work at Busan, forcing the country's top steel producer POSCO to call off deliveries of some 25,000 tonnes of the metal.
Thousands of South Korean truckers went on strike Friday, demanding steps to cut energy costs or raise transport fees after the diesel price rose more than 30 percent since the beginning of this year.
The number of truckers taking part across the country doubled to more than 10,000 on Saturday, disrupting operations at Busan, Gwangyang and other ports, according to the transport ministry.
A POSCO official said most of the 3,300 trailer trucks used to deliver its products remained idle Saturday.
"About a dozen truckers are deployed at each of the four entrances of our plant. They are turning away any trucks which try to pass through the entrance," the official told AFP by phone.
He said all the deliveries called off Saturday were domestic and export shipments were not affected.
At least two other major steel plants in Pohang, including Hyundai Steel, also had to stop overland deliveries, Yonhap news agency said.
The walk-out came despite a 10 billion dollar government package announced Sunday, which includes tax rebates for 12.8 million people for one year and subsidies for low earners to buy fuel. It would also help truckers.
In 2003 a truckers' strike which began at the country's largest port of Busan spread nationwide and caused export losses estimated at 540 million dollars after strikers blocked ports and highways with their vehicles.
The government said it was trying to end the crippling strike, which Yonhap said also affected the western port Pyeongtaek, threatening delays in deliveries for foreign buyers.
Transport Minister Chung Jong-Hwan met cargo owners and transport companies and urged them to "engage actively in talks" with the union, the ministry said.
"The representatives of management expressed their intention to do so as the root cause of the strike was the rise of diesel price," the ministry said in a statement.
Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo also visited a cargo terminal in southern Seoul.
The ministry said it expects the strike to affect 20 percent of the transportation of shipping containers.
- AFP /ls
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