Thousands of South Koreans march in anti-government rally

Source: AP

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Thousands of anti-government protesters marched in cities across South Korea on Friday, denouncing the labor policies of the increasingly unpopular President Park Geun-hye.

The rallies were orchestrated by one of the country's two major umbrella labor unions. They come about a week after police clashed violently in the capital Seoul with demonstrators critical of the government's handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago.

Park Seong-shik, a spokesman from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said that a rally Friday attended by about 10,000 people in Seoul was held without significant conflict with police. Thousands of police officers, dressed in fluorescent yellow jackets, some carrying riot shields, marched through the streets near the Seoul City Hall to keep the demonstrators in check.

Labor organizations are critical of policies they say will reduce wages and job security as well as being unhappy with a revised pension system for government employees and the economic dominance of family-owned conglomerates known as chaebol.

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