A Seoul court on Monday acquitted four former union leaders of Korea Railroad Corp. of charges of obstructing the state rail operator’s business by leading a three-week-long illegal strike late last year.

In February, the four officials of the KORAIL union, including its leader Kim Myung-hwan, were indicted on charges of business obstruction for spearheading the strike from Dec. 9-31, 2013.

More than 8,600 union members didn’t show up to work for three weeks in protest of the government’s plan to create a subsidiary that would run some of the country’s high-speed train services, claiming it to be the first step toward rail privatization and bound to result in job losses and reduced benefits.

Prosecutors have claimed the strike was politically motivated and cost the state rail company 44.7 billion won ($40.7 million).

The Seoul Western District Court, however, said the walkout did not constitute business obstruction, a crime in South Korea but not in other countries like the United States, because the union had given the firm advance notice.

“It’s true that the strike caused society-wide confusion, inflicted massive losses on the country, and seriously inconvenienced the people,” Justice Oh Seong-wu said in a ruling.

“KORAIL, however, knew about it beforehand, as seen from its preemptive measures to minimize rail disruption.”

“In addition, punishing those who do not wish to work would be tantamount to forced labor, which is in violation of Article 12 of the Constitution,” Oh added.

Following the ruling, Kim thanked the people who showed him support.

“I would like thank all of you who offered us overwhelming support in our cause to stop rail privatization,” he told reporters after the ruling. “I think the court understood our desperate wish to hold peaceful protests in accordance with the law.”

Prosecutors said they will decide whether to appeal the verdict after reviewing the judicial opinion. They had initially sought a prison sentence of up to five years for the four former union leaders. (Yonhap)