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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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ROK police move against Ssangyong strikers
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-04 14:40 SEOUL: Police commandos in Republic of Korea began storming an auto factory occupied by hundreds of fired workers, media reports said Tuesday, amid fears the prolonged standoff is pushing the automaker toward liquidation. The reported raid on Ssangyong Motor Co's sole assembly line comes after weeks of tension that has seen workers use slingshots and molotov cocktails against riot police, who have responded by dropping tear gas from helicopters.
Yonhap news agency and YTN television both reported that police had begun an assault on the facility. YTN footage showed a thick cloud of smoke above the facility. Yonhap said that police were dropping tear gas from helicopters and that the fired workers were fighting back by firing nuts and bolts from large slingshots and rolling out burning tires.
The facility is located in Pyeongtaek, some 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of Seoul. The workers are angry over a massive job cuts by South Korea's fifth-largest automaker, which is seeking to survive after entering bankruptcy protection earlier this year. The paint shop is said to contain flammable material which besides the risk of a violent showdown has raised fears of an inferno if there is a full-blown police assault. Lee Won-muk, a Ssangyong spokesman, said that Ssangyong employees were attempting to enter the facility to remove parts and were being accompanied by police. He said that between 500 and 540 people were still occupying the facility after about 100 gave up on Sunday and another 17 on Tuesday. Unionists have been occupying the facility for more than two months to protest a major restructuring plan that calls for the shedding of 2,646 workers, or 36 percent of the work force. Some 1,670 have left the company voluntarily but nearly 1,000 opposed the move. The standoff intensified last month when riot police began gradually moving in to kick protesters out of the compound. But police have been cautious about taking over the paint shop amid fears a clash there could turn the plant, full of paint and thinner, into flames and lead to deaths. Talks last week to end the occupation broke off Sunday, with management threatening to take steps toward bankruptcy unless the union accepted a compromise offer on layoffs. The company offered to keep more workers than before in a compromise proposal, but the union insisted on no layoffs.
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