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SEOUL: Weeks of protests in South Korea against US beef imports will soon spread to the Asian nation's biggest carmaker, the union at Hyundai Motor said on Tuesday.
Some 45,000 workers will walk out for two hours each on Wednesday and Thursday both to protest at the imports and to press management in wage talks, Hyundai Motor union spokesman Chang Ki-Ho said.
"Unions cannot be left out of the public fight for health, now joined by even school students," Chang told AFP, confirming the strike from 3:00 pm (0600 GMT) Wednesday and another from 2:00 am Thursday.
Metalworkers' unions said Monday they expect up to 130,000 workers in auto and other industries to support the partial nationwide strike Wednesday.
Seoul's decision in April to resume US beef imports, which were halted in 2003 after a mad cow case in the United States, sparked weeks of mass rallies - originally over health concerns.
Seoul went back to Washington to negotiate extra health safeguards and last week gave the imports the go-ahead. But the demonstrations have continued and some have turned violent.
Police Monday began taking a harder line against violent protests, raiding the offices of civic groups and detaining 148 people. A group of Catholic priests Monday night began a hunger strike against the crackdown.
Conservative newspapers, which have been targeted by protesters along with the conservative government, say the crackdown is overdue.
They say the original rallies by ordinary citizens have been taken over by opponents of the government and of a wider US free trade pact.
"Central Seoul has become a lawless area night after night for two months," the JoongAng Ilbo said.
Police have blocked main streets with buses or shipping containers and deployed row after row of shield-bearing riot officers against demonstrators.
The scenes have astonished some foreign visitors and alarmed city centre business people whose trade has been hard hit.
Beef importers, meanwhile, were working on strategies finally to get the meat to store shelves.
Park Chang-Gyu, head of the Korea Import Beef Association, said Tuesday they plan a 30-per cent discount sale from July 15-30.
Park, whose association groups some 200 beef importers, said around 80 association members would likely take part in the joint marketing.
"We hope this will help dissipate the groundless public fears about the safety of US beef," Park told AFP. "Koreans had long eaten US beef without any health problems."
Quarantine authorities said 85 tons of frozen US beef - out of some 5,300 tons already in cold storage awaiting clearance - had been approved for sale and more was to be inspected Tuesday.
Park said "a very small amount" had already been released to the market but refused to give details.
Unionists have been picketing cold storage plants to block shipments to stores. Retailers have been cautious in accepting US beef even though it is far cheaper than Korean meat.
Activists scattered cow dung over shelves and scuffled with riot police last July when the ban on US beef was briefly relaxed for some cuts.
- AFP/yb
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