Police React to Road Strike Violence

Three days into the cargo workers strike, the government has announced strict policies to deal with growing numbers of interruptions nationwide to trucks not participating in strike.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation and the National Policy Agency revealed on December 3 that there have been 47 interruptions by strikers, such as car attacks, incendiary fires, and violence against drivers since December 1.

According to police, 9 fires seem linked to striking cargo workers. One of fires happened in U-dong, Haeundae-gu, Busan, in the morning of December 3 after an 11-ton truck was found burned. In addition, large nails were placed on the road and drivers beaten, interfering with transportation nationwide including Busan and Ulsan.

As a result, the government has decided to punish illegal acts like interruptions of transportation, including license revocations.

The Gwangyang Police in Jeonnam requested an arrest warrant for Seong (40), the president of container workers in the district of Gwangju and Jeonnam, and one for Kim (40), a member of the cargo workers union, for interruption of transportation by damaging trucks.

National Police Agency Commissioner-General Lee Taek-soon said, “We will strongly consider searching the offices of cargo workers in the districts where illegal acts happened.”

Meanwhile, Lee Seong-gwon, director of logistics innovation at the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, stated that there have been no major interruptions in distribution, saying, “We handled 90% of the usual amount of transportation since there were not many distributions on the weekend, and we increased transportation by rail.”

However, some people are concerned that there might be distribution chaos if truck drivers are so afraid of strikers’ disturbances that they stop their work.

libra@donga.com