[Inside Chodong] Law and Principles: The President's Decision and Responsibility

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[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] "Illegal," "Crime," "Legal Responsibility." The government has once again taken a hardline stance against the Cargo Solidarity's collective transportation refusal. Although there are significant differences in understanding between camps, and if it directly causes harm to the public, one might expect at least some dissenting voices to emerge, but this time is different. On Monday morning, the president spoke about "law and principles" even in a meeting with Christian believers.

The president's position remains consistent despite claims that the government is enlarging the scale of damage by not engaging in dialogue with the union. On the contrary, he asks, "As much as we want to prevent the burden on the people, the public will experience much inconvenience and suffering, but please endure it." This reveals the president's intention to differentiate responses by separating the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) strike from protests by subcontracted workers raising their voices. By firmly establishing law and principles, the president aims to break the vicious cycle of illegal strikes, and the industrial sector anticipates that the president, government, and ruling party have outlined a blueprint for labor-management reform and labor reform.

There is a reason behind the government's tough response. As the Cargo Solidarity strike continues, the damage to the industrial sector is spreading to the general public. Due to the transportation refusal, cement shipments are not proceeding normally, and more than half of construction sites nationwide cannot perform ready-mix concrete pouring. Fuel transportation is blocked, causing gas stations to run out of fuel. The estimated damage across industries such as petrochemicals, automobiles, and steel has already exceeded 1 trillion won. Since the government conceded during the Cargo Solidarity strike in June, and the union chose to strike again in less than six months, the message now is that such repetition will not be tolerated.

The reasons for viewing this as an illegal and political strike are clear. President Yoon is reportedly enraged by the Cargo Solidarity transport refusers' use of "steel balls." At a Cabinet meeting, President Yoon directly condemned, saying, "It is an unacceptable criminal act to attack colleagues who did not participate in the transportation refusal by shooting steel balls at them." It is also reported that President Yoon showed discomfort when learning that a KCTU executive intervened during the breakdown of an agreement between labor and management in the early stages of the Seoul Metro union strike last month.

However, when listening to the industrial sector, the victims, responsibility also lies with the government and the National Assembly. Although an agreement was reached in June to continue the Safe Freight Rate System and discuss expanding items, no follow-up measures have been taken for five months, resulting in the current situation. The Safe Freight Rate Committee, which includes the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, truck owners, and cargo owners, has met four times but made no progress, and the only joint discussion by ruling and opposition parties in the National Assembly was the Livelihood Economy Stabilization Special Committee (Livelihood Special Committee) in September. The failure of the parties to narrow their differences has only caused innocent companies to suffer.

Although the momentum for a general strike has weakened considerably with the successive resolutions of the subway and railroad strikes, the KCTU plans a nationwide general strike rally on the 6th. If the KCTU carries out a general strike, the industrial sector damage, already exceeding 1 trillion won, will increase further and inevitably become a factor that shuts down the South Korean economy. Even if a settlement is reached immediately through compromise or concession, the industrial sector analyzes that it will take as much time as the strike period to recover.

Of course, we cannot be dragged into a vicious cycle by actions that hold the national economy and people's livelihood hostage. If decisions are thoroughly based on law and principles, the public will surely trust them. However, if the union is treated only as an entity to be subdued rather than a dialogue partner, it becomes difficult for workers even to raise small voices. Unlike the union, whose only response is to escalate the intensity of the struggle, the government is considering various cards such as issuing additional work commencement orders to the refining industry and abolishing the Safe Freight Rate System. To break the vicious cycle, decisive action is needed, but government officials who did not seek solutions even when a logistics crisis was imminent must not forget their responsibility. / Political Department Deputy Chief Baek Kyunghwan

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.