A labor group criticized the South Korean (SK) government Thursday over its violent responses to the strike of more than 800 workers of Ssangyong Motors.

During a rally held in front of the South Korean embassy in Makati, the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) demanded from the SK government, led by President Lee Myung-Bak, to immediately halt police assaults, access to food, water and medical help for the workers and to restart negotiations with the unions and management.

“The South Korean government has shamefully displayed its atrocious attitudes towards workers when it turned the strike area into a war zone,” Jose Apollo Ado, spokesperson of the group, said.

"We condemn this despicable disregard for the fundamental rights of workers whose only crime is to defend their jobs,” he added.

Ado said the APL is in support of the Global Day of Action coordinated by the Transnational Corporation Monitoring Network (ATNC).

According to new reports, the strike stemmed from the breakdown of negotiations between the union and the management as the company announced mass dismissals sometime in early February.

The 800 striking workers of Ssangyong had occupied the car factory for over two months since May, which eventually resulted in a series of heavy-handed attacks by riot police on the workers.

The workers were not given food as management and the police have allegedly blocked all access from entering the factory. Medical doctors and nurses were also barred from entering the compound despite the need for medical attention who were hurt during the repeated assaults by the police, reports said.

Last August 5, the police resorted to violent means, including spraying the strikers with corrosive chemicals in an attempt to dislodge the workers.

The violent situation also led the wife of the KMWU Ssangyong Motors Branch policy director to allegedly commit suicide after she suffered stress and anxiety from receiving subpoenas and a warrant for her husband’s arrest.