South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday compared the truckers’ strike to the growing nuclear threat posed by North Korean policies to the neighboring country and took the opportunity to condemn «illegal actions that will only lead to a vicious circle.»
He made this statement during a closed-door meeting with his advisors, where he pointed out that the country «would not have to face the North Korean threat if it had dealt with Pyongyang under a principle of non-proliferation», according to information gathered by the Yonhap news agency.
In this regard, he stressed that the issue of truckers’ strikes is «the same thing.» «If we allow illegal actions and violence to continue we enter a vicious circle,» he stressed.
The Yoon administration has adopted a policy of «zero tolerance» for the actions taken by the Teamsters Solidarity Union, which went into effect 12 days ago. The week, it issued an executive order forcing cement truckers to return to work.
This association, which is part of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, has taken collective action for the second time in five months to demand an extension of a freight rate system that guarantees the base wage.
Those who refuse to comply with the executive order, however, could face up to three years’ imprisonment and fines of 30 million won (about 20,000 euros).
The opposition Democratic Party (DP) has accused Yoon of «hostile treatment of workers» and pointed out that «it is horrible for a president to view the appeal of those seeking a safe working atmosphere for freight transportation as tantamount to a nuclear threat.»
«We are concerned that President Yoon is considering the sector’s work as an enemy and trying to annihilate it,» said a party spokesman, who assured that workers «are not the object of suppression but part of the negotiations.»
