South Korea stifling Samsung workers’ US$400,000 bonus strike risks wider crisis

In South Korea, the clock is ticking on what threatens to become the most consequential labour dispute in recent history – and Seoul is running out of patience. With 50,000 workers at Samsung Electronics poised to walk off the job on Thursday in an 18-day strike, the government of President Lee Jae Myung finds itself cornered by a crisis it cannot afford to mishandle, with up to 100 trillion won (US$66.7 billion) in projected economic damage on the line, plus the potential disruption to globa...

By Park Chan-kyong