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Confrontation over new labour law

Seoul govt seeks to defuse crisis, workers continue protest
SEOUL. Jan 13’ As President Kim Youtig-sam's government struggled to defuse a political crisis Monday, organizers of spreading labour protests vowed they would not back down unless a new labour law is rescinded, reports APT
"President Kim must decide what is more important: saving his face or the national economy." strike leader Kwon Young-gil said. He warned that more strikes scheduled to begin Tuesday would paralyze the economy.
But the president would not back away either, a government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The president planned to tell his party's leaders at a dinner later Monday that the new law is necessary to save the ailing economy, the source said.
The labour-government confrontation began 19 days ago. when Kim s ruling party passed
the new labour law that limits workers’ rights. Protests have since blown up into the largest organized strikes ever in South Korea.
Kim, the nation's first civilian leader in 32 years, had en- . joyed' popularity'[With" MS democratic reforms., but his,ruling party's December 26 passage of the law invited more anger than applause.
The confrontation has created the largest political crisis for Kim since he took office in early 1993.
Many people are upset by the way the law was enacted. It was passed without any debate in a seven-minute, secret, pre-dawn session, attended only by ruling party legislators.
On Monday, tens of thousands of workers held solidarity rallies pending a new round of nationwide strikes. They vowed to fight until their demand for the repeal of the new
law is met.
Militant union leaders said the new round of strikes will be far bigger, joined by a record one million workers. It is to af-feet subway, phone, city r^il and bank services.
• ’C -Ciovernnfent and;~,.ru-l«ig party officials said they w^nbto resolve the situation through dialogue. Lee Hong-koo. the ruling party's No. 2 man. said his partv would consider any opposition plan to revise the law, but wouldn't offer any changes of its own.
A sense of crisis is building in the ■ government as the protests, which began over what appeared to be a simple labour issue, have taken on political overtones.
Blue and white-collar workers are joining for the first time since 1987 when they forced then -military ruler Chun Doo-hwan to accept democratic reforms.