The South Korean government on Sunday invoked its emergency arbitration rights to end the walkout by pilots of Korean Air Co., the bigger of the country's two major air carriers, that has seriously affected passengers and exports.

South Korean Labor Minister Kim Dae-hwan announced the emergency state intervention at a news conference on Sunday morning after the airline's unionized pilots and management failed to reach agreement on the demand by the former of wage hikes in their last-minute talks.

The minister said the decision took effect from 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) in the day.

With the state emergency arbitration right mobilized, the striking pilots were immediately asked to stop their walkout and will be banned from resuming any collective action for the following 30 days.

During the one-month period, labor and management can resume negotiations to narrow their differences or accept the government's subsequent arbitration.

Violators of the emergency state arbitration law are subject to punishment of up to two years in jail and a maximum fine of 20 million won (19,741 US dollars).

About 80 percent of Korean Air's 1,344 unionized pilots walked off the job from Thursday early morning when their calls for a 6.5 percent wage hike and a 50 percent rise in bonuses were not met. The company has a total of 1,980 pilots.

After the government warned to use the arbitration rights, the striking pilots and the management reopened negotiations on Friday afternoon, but failed to narrow their differences before the Saturday deadline set by the government.

Due to the strike, the company had to grounded more than half of its some 1,100 passenger and cargo flights in the past three days.

Korean Air said its own strike-related losses are estimated at 25.3 billion won (24.6 million US dollars) per day.

The South Korean government invoked the emergency rights in summer this year to end the labor dispute at Asiana Airlines Co., the rival of the Korean Air.

Local public opinion criticized the walkout, saying it cannot be understand why the pilots of the Korean Air who receive an annual salary of 120 million won (117,000 US dollars) still demand wage hike.

Local business circle also condemned the walkout which disrupted exports seriously.

According to an estimate released by the Korea Employers Federation, the labor strike has cost the country up to 200 million dollars a day in lost exports.

Korean Air has been ranked among the top three freight carriers since 1993 in the world.

Source: Xinhua