Top court clears railway strike leaders of obstruction charges

By KH디지털2

Published : Feb. 3, 2017 - 11:44

South Korea's top court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision to exonerate four former railway union leaders from charges of obstruction of business in connection with the 2013 railway strike against the privatization of railway services.

The defendants, including Kim Myung-hwan, former chief of the Korean Railway Workers' Union, were indicted and detained in February 2014 on charges of disrupting railway operations by leading an illegal strike for 23 days in December 2013.

(Yonhap)

The bone of contention in the trial was whether the strike was staged unexpectedly, thus inflicting damage on railway operations.

The lower courts have ruled that the state-run Korea Railroad Corp. could have expected the strike and was given time to make preparations in advance. (Yonhap)