Postponement of some trains in the Seoul metropolitan area due to the railroad union's failure

[Anchor]
Delays are occurring on the railroad operated by Korail due to the departure of the National Railroad Workers' Union.

However, it is difficult to estimate that Korail has been disrupted to some extent because it has not been able to aggregate the exact delay situation, so I am connecting with a reporter.

Reporter Hwang Hye-kyung, where is the disruption?

[Reporter]
Yes, some sections of subway lines 1, 3, and 4 in the Seoul metropolitan area and the Suin-Bundang line are among the subway lines that have been disrupted by the Korail railway union's departure.

In addition, delays are also occurring on the West Sea Line connecting Ilsan to Gimpo Airport, Sosa, and Wonjo, and the East Sea Line between Busan and Ulsan.

However, we don't know exactly which route and how much delay is being made at this time.

Korail has not been able to provide an accurate count of the situation since it released the status of the delay at 8 a.m., even though it said there was a delay.

According to Korail's announcement at 8 a.m., 59 out of the Korail trains, including the Seoul metropolitan area, had delays of more than 5 minutes, 46 delayed by more than 10 minutes, and 8 delayed by more than 20 minutes.

The status of subway operation can be found on the subway-related mobile apps such as "Korail Subway Talk" or the Korail website.

Korail, however, said that regular trains such as KTX and Saemaeul are all operating normally without a hitch.

[Anchor]
Why is the railway union working so poorly?

[Reporter]
It includes increasing insufficient manpower, improving working conditions, and raising wages.

The union claimed, "Korail is choosing to outsource its dangerous work as the Ministry of Strategy and Finance pushes to reduce the number of employees by 1,566 despite Korail's severe shortage of manpower."

In addition, it is also demanding a shift to a group of four two shifts through manpower recruitment and a 2.5% increase in basic salary.

If this is not carried out, the union plans to hold an indefinite general strike early next month after a press conference announcing a general strike on the 21st.

Korail's tally shows that the railway union has been working more than once a year for four years from 2019 to last year, a total of 170 days.

So far, I'm YTN Hwang Hye-kyung from the Ministry of Economy.