Railway union suspends strike, trains run normally

Dec 23, 2025, 09:22 am

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Passengers wait for trains at Seoul Station on Dec. 10. / Yonhap

A nationwide general strike by the railway workers’ union, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, has been suspended after the government proposed a phased normalization of performance bonus standards. As a result, all train services are operating normally.

According to the railway union, a tentative agreement was reached with the government at around 12:10 a.m., leading the union to defer the strike that had been planned for later in the morning.

The government reportedly said it would submit to the Public Institutions Steering Committee under the Ministry of Economy and Finance a plan to gradually restore performance bonus payments. Under the proposal, bonuses would be paid at 90% of base salary next year and fully normalized to 100% starting in 2027.

The railway union had demanded that management performance bonuses be calculated at 100% of base pay, rather than the current 80%.

The union had previously announced a strike on Dec. 11 but suspended it after reaching a tentative agreement with Korea Railroad Corporation, widely known as Korail. However, when the finance ministry later proposed setting the bonus standard at 90%, the union again signaled plans for a general strike.

With the latest decision, the union said it would hold off on industrial action and closely watch the outcome of the Public Institutions Steering Committee meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Korail said that following the suspension of the strike, all trains nationwide are running on normal schedules.

#railway union #general strike #strike suspension #train services #performance bonus