Truck drivers and members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions make a protest at the Uiwang Inland Container Depot in Uiwang, South Korea on November 24, 2022. With fuel costs soaring, the truck drivers are on strike in South Korea for the second time in less than a year, calling on the government to make permanent a minimum-pay system. Photo: VCG

South Korea failed to reach agreement with a striking truckers' union in the first session of talks on Monday, the fifth day of a nationwide walkout, the union said, as supply chain glitches worsen and concrete runs out at building sites.

The government, which estimates daily losses at about 300 billion won ($224 million) as supplies of cement and fuel for gas stations run short, raised its warning of cargo transport disruption to the highest level.

The lack of a resolution for the second major strike in less than six months by thousands of truckers demanding better pay and working conditions makes it more likely that the government will legally compel the strikers to return to work.

"The transport ministry's position today was that 'There is nothing the ministry can answer,'" the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union (CTSU) said in a statement, adding that the next round of talks had been set for Wednesday.

The union said it had asked the government to withdraw steps toward issuing an "undemocratic and anti-constitutional" 'work start order,'" adding that it would take a forward-looking stance on each request to reach an agreement.

The law allows use of such an order to tackle a serious transport disruption, and failure to comply can lead to punishments such as cancellation of trucker licenses and three years in jail, or a fine of up to 30 million won.

The strike is disrupting industrial activity at a time when Asia's fourth-largest economy expect a slump in growth, with the central bank having downgraded its 2023 forecast to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent.

"We need to establish a rule of law between labor and management," President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Monday, according to his office.

Yoon, who has criticized the strike as taking the nation's logistics "hostage" in the face of an economic crisis, will hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to consider a "work start order" for truckers to return to their jobs, his office said.

Reuters