Thousands of South Korean truck drivers returned to work on Wednesday as a weeklong truckers' strike began to unravel
following the government's threats of action against strikers.
About 30,000 truck drivers had refused to work, demanding higher fees from trucking and shipping companies. The strike, which began last Thursday, disrupted freight and paralyzed the nation's seaports, and officials estimate export losses have reached $530 million.
The Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry said about 75 percent of some 1,850 cement truck drivers, who were leading the strike, had agreed to drop their demands and go back to work by late Tuesday.
Container traffic was continuing to improve on Wednesday, said Cho Taek-yeon, the ministry's deputy director.
On Tuesday, the government set a midnight deadline, warning it would cancel tax benefits for drivers who ignored the order to end the walkout. Trucking and shipping companies, which had also threatened action, terminated contracts for 66 union leaders after midnight Tuesday, another ministry official said.
The strike is the second in three months to hit the transport sector. Cement makers say their losses have reached at least $85 million a day, and other industries, from shipbuilders and steel makers to textile firms, had also reported expanding losses.
Police had reportedly sought the arrest of union leaders overnight, but had been met by defiant union members, who blocked the headquarters' entrances. The government had dispatched military trucks to deliver goods.
In May, a weeklong strike by the Cargo Transportation Workers' Union paralyzed South Korea's two main ports, costing exporters more than $450 million. That strike ended when the government agreed to cut truck drivers' income taxes, lower highway tolls and subsidize fuel.