Rail union agrees to end strike

Leaders of unionized rail workers agreed to end their prolonged strike after the ruling and opposition parties promised to form a parliamentary subcommittee aimed at preventing privatization of rail services, lawmakers said Monday.

The union confirmed the agreement, saying there are only internal procedures left before its members return to work, ending the 22-day walkout.

"The union decided to withdraw the strike," Choi Eun-cheol, a spokesman for the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) union, told Yonhap News Agency. "The union will discuss the procedures in detail after looking through the agreement."

The breakthrough came three weeks after some 8,700 workers of KORAIL walked off their jobs on Dec. 9 in protest of a government plan to establish a KORAIL subsidiary to run part of the high-speed train services. The union suspects the move is a precursor to rail privatization.

The government has repeatedly assured workers that it has no intention of privatizing rail services, and promised to revoke the subsidiary's rail service license if its stakes are sold to private sectors. But labor leaders have been skeptical of the assurances.

On Sunday, leaders of the rival parties on the parliamentary transportation committee worked out the breakthrough deal with KORAIL union leader Kim Myung-hwan. The three-point agreement calls for strikers to get back to work as soon as the subcommittee is formed.

The subcommittee's establishment was seen as aimed at backing up the government's assurances of no rail privatization. It provided the union with a face-saving way out of the walkout, as the government has stuck to its no-compromise stance despite disruptions in rail services.

According to the agreement, the "subcommittee on rail industry development" will be composed of the same numbers of lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party.

The committee will be headed by the Saenuri Party, it added.

If necessary, a policy advisory panel that includes officials from KORAIL, its union, the government and civilian experts can also be established, it said. The advisory panel will support the subcommittee's work in discussing various thorny issues, it added.

Police and prosecutors, however, said they will still continue pursuing the unions leaders for staging the "illegal" walkout regardless of the dramatic deal reached by the rival parties.

Kim and other several union leaders have been hiding inside Jogye Temple in downtown Seoul after district courts issued arrest warrants for defying summons by prosecutors.

"We will detain KORAIL union leader Kim as soon as he comes out," said a senior police officer.

Prosecutors also reiterated that they will deal with the unauthorized walkout in accordance with the law. 

"Those responsible for the illegal acts will be held liable despite a decision to withdraw the walkout," a prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said, adding that the prosecution office will execute the arrest warrants as well.

After two investigative authorities vowed to continue with the investigation, KORAIL union said that its leaders will not yet respond to police summons.

"There were no discussions yet about KORAIL union leader Kim voluntarily appearing before the police for questioning," said a union official. "He will hold a press conference later in the day at a safe location."

The longest-ever rail strike in the country's history has affected bullet-train KTX service as well as other passenger and cargo train operations nationwide.

KORAIL was forced to cut passenger train services by around 24 percent for more than a week, it said. The daily amount of cargo shipments has also dropped to an average of 30 percent of the normal volume.

In response, the management previously vowed to punish 490 union leaders for their involvement in the strike, adding that it will take legal actions to seek compensation for financial damages.

The standoff heated up on Friday night when the government issued a formal license for a new affiliate to operate the new high-speed line from Suseo-dong in Seoul to the southern port city of Busan. (Yonhap News)