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SEOUL: A militant South Korean union body said on Tuesday its members have voted to hold a general strike next month in protest at a US beef import deal and other government policies.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said in a statement that more than 70 percent of those who cast their ballots last week supported the industrial action.
"The results showed a public sense of crisis about the unilateral way President Lee Myung-Bak has so far run state affairs," said KCTU spokeswoman Woo Moon-Sook.
Union officials said the strike was tentatively set for July 2 and at least 200,000 workers were expected to take part.
About 512,000 people, or 80 percent of the KCTU's total 630,000 members, were asked whether to strike against Lee's policies, including a decision to resume US beef imports which has sparked mass street protests.
The KCTU said 271,000 responded and about 70 percent of these supported the strike.
The umbrella union grouping, which has a history of staging politically motivated strikes, said its other 120,000 members would be asked to vote in late June.
But the spokeswoman told AFP the second vote would not affect the decision to strike given the relatively small number of people involved.
The government has warned it would deal sternly with what it said would be an unauthorised political strike.
The union at largest automaker Hyundai Motor rejected the general strike call. Some 48.5 percent of its total membership supported the stoppage, fewer than the 50 percent mandated under collective agreements.
- AFP/so
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