On this day in 1996, more than 700,000 South Korean workers initiated a four-week general strike in response to a new anti-labor law passed quietly by the government. Workers won some amendments to the law the following February.

Earlier that year, the South Korean government had claimed changes to the economy were necessary to make the country more competitive. After failing to pass a new labor bill following six months of hearings, the ruling New Korea Party (NKP) went about passing their reforms in an underhanded fashion.

The NKP created a secret committee to create the new set of labor laws on December 3rd and then, very early in the morning of December 26th, members of the party passed eleven bills in twenty minutes.

The passed laws made it easier and legal for companies to lay off workers, increased the legal workweek by 12 hours, made the use of scab labor during strikes legal, and outlawed strike pay.

This caused widespread outrage not just among labor organizations, but among other parties as well, who had been kept in the dark about the proceedings. Following the bills' passage, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) called on their 1.2 million members to strike, the first call for a general strike in their history.

After a single day, the strikes started spreading to other sectors including hospitals. On December 28th, South Korean riot police used methods such as tear gas against the strikers in order to dispel crowds. Strikers responded by throwing bricks.

The government threatened to arrest union leaders in January, as large-scale clashes continued with authorities. In late January and February of 1997, the strike ended after the labor laws were amended by the government, however many of the anti-labor reforms were kept in place.