President urges firm response to 'llegal' strike

By Jun Ji-hye

President Park Geun-hye has urged a firm response to a strike by union members of financial institutions, scheduled for today, calling it “illegal.”

During a meeting with her senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, Park said the government should crack down on the illegal walkout to prevent the unionized workers’ “regressive” behavior from being repeated.

The comment comes as the Korean Financial Industry Union plans to stage a strike today at World Cup Stadium in western Seoul in protest of the government-driven introduction of a full-fledged performance-linked pay system.

The union, which has more than 100,000 members nationwide, said most workers are expected to take part in the large-scale walkout.

As part of a collective action, members of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union are also planning to strike, Sept. 27.

Park said it was regrettable that the public workers and bank unions decided to carry out collective action, noting that they will never win public support, especially while the economic slowdown continues.

“It is questionable how many people would agree with strikes of the public and bank unions whose members receive comparatively high salaries and have job security guarantees,” she said. “Relevant secretaries and ministries should endeavor to persuade the unions to refrain from going on a strike. At the same time, full preparation should be made to minimize consumers’ inconvenience from the strike.”

She said supervision should also be strengthened to handle strike participants in accordance with the “no work, no pay” principle.

“New and strong” NK sanctions

Regarding North Korea’s latest nuclear test earlier this month, Park said the government will focus on crafting “new and strong” international sanctions against Pyongyang.

She said Seoul will do all it takes to end North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “maniacal” obsession with nuclear arms, noting that past efforts to resolve the decades-old nuclear standoff with the isolated state through dialogue and negotiations failed to stop the growth of its nuclear program.

“I think that North Korea will not be interested in dialogue on denuclearization anymore, and that its nuclear and missile provocations will further escalate,” she said. “Thus, the government will do its utmost to secure new, strong international sanctions at the U.N. Security Council that could actually coerce the North into renouncing its nuclear program, while it will separately take unilateral steps to pressure the North, in tandem with various other countries.”

On Sept. 9, the North pushed ahead with its fifth and most powerful nuclear test, claiming to have detonated a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be placed on a ballistic missile. On Sept. 20, the repressive state claimed it had successfully conducted a ground test of a new rocket engine, indicating that it would test-fire a long-range missile soon.

“In the past, money was given to the North to get it to engage in dialogue, but the money was funneled into its nuclear program,” Park said. “When negotiations were under way despite the absence of Pyongyang’s will, the North exploited the time to advance its nuclear capabilities behind the scenes.”