SEOUL– President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed officials Monday to come up with diverse solutions as a nationwide walkout of truckers entered its seventh day.
Thousands of unionized cargo truckers have been on strike since Tuesday, demanding an extension of a freight rate system that guarantees basic wages for truck drivers struggling to cope with soaring fuel prices.
At a weekly meeting, Yoon instructed his senior secretaries to “come up with solutions from various angles, as the damage to industries could increase this week,” a presidential official told reporters.
The walkout has caused widespread disruptions in the country’s logistics networks, with major sectors, including autos, steel and cement, experiencing losses in output and exports worth an estimated 1.6 trillion won (US$1.24 billion) over the past seven days, according to the industry ministry.
Negotiations between the union and the government to reach a settlement have so far yielded little progress.
Yoon was also briefed on current economic and industrial trends, including rising consumer prices in major nations.
South Korea’s consumer prices jumped 5.4 percent last month from a year earlier, marking the steepest on-year increase since August 2008.
“He asked that we also do our best to manage prices,” the official said. “In particular, he noted that if prices rise, real wages fall, and instructed (officials) to find ways to relieve the difficulties of ordinary people through preemptive measures.”
Yoon later held his first weekly meeting with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.
The two agreed that regulatory reform will be a top priority for the country’s future growth and decided to launch a “strategy meeting for regulatory reform” at an early date, the official said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency