Thousands of workers honored the strike call, which was sparked by government plans to privatize rail, electricity, and gas networks. Union spokespeople explained that the proposals would mean heavy job losses and would threaten safety and levels of service. While the government brought in scab workers to keep the highly automated gas and electricity services up and running, the rail system was brought to an effective halt. "The railroad suffered greatly from the strike," said Sohn Hak-Rae, head of the Korea National Railroad.

Many workers joined a vigil at two Seoul campuses for the duration of the job action.

On the first day of the stoppage, 50,000 workers at 93 private firms nationwide walked out in solidarity. Among them were 20,000 unionists at Hyundai and Kia Motors, south Korea's two largest car makers. Hyundai union spokesperson Lee Hyeon-woo described the four-hour strike as a warning. "We will keep monitoring developments in labor talks for future actions," he said.

With opposition parties in support, the government termed the public workers' strike illegal and said it would push ahead with its privatization program. State prosecutors said they would seek the arrest of 36 strike leaders, and warned that police could be used to attack workers' demonstrations and picket lines.

"The government must handle the strike through dialogue with the utmost patience but we must also deal with violence and illegality in a principled way," said President Kim Dae Jung.

"The strike is the latest blight on Mr. Kim's final year in office, following a string of government corruption scandals and a breakdown in his trademark 'sunshine' policy of engagement with communist North Korea," reported the Financial Times.  
 
Pyonyang rejects Bush's threats
During his February 20-21 trip to south Korea, U.S. president George Bush reiterated the bellicose statements toward the government and people of the northern workers state of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) that were featured in his January 29 State of the Union address.

"In our dealings with north Korea, we've laid down a clear marker," he told U.S. soldiers at Camp Bonifas, who are among the 37,000 troops that Washington has stationed in the south. "We will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us or our friends or our allies with weapons of mass destruction," he said.

The government in Pyongyang said that Bush's remarks were "calculated to drive a wedge" between the government and people of the north, and had "made clearer the U.S. intention to violate the sovereignty of the DPRK, openly interfere in its internal affairs and stifle it by force."

The statement, released by the DPRK Foreign Ministry on February 22, described "Bush's outbursts" as an "insult to the national feelings of the Korean people," and emphasized the country's preparedness to defend itself against attack.  
 
 
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