Daewoo workers fight police

Workers at the Daewoo motor company were trying to break through a cordon of riot police

Dozens of car workers at South Korea's bankrupt car-maker Daewoo clashed with riot police on Sunday in a protest against mass layoffs.

Stones were thrown, fire extinguishers let off, and protestors punched police, as they tried to break through a police cordon to enter the auto-maker's main factory at Bupyong, west of the capital Seoul.

Inside the plant, several hundred union leaders have been staging a rally since last week when the company issued redundancy notices to 1,750 workers.

The job losses were forced on Daewoo by an order from Korean court receivers demanding 6,000 jobs be cut internationally and 6,800 in Korea.

Last ditch talks with unions failed to halt the layoffs and the union plans to go on strike at Bupyong and two other Daewoo factories on Monday.

Meanwhile, police are preparing to arrest 30 union leaders for allegedly causing tens of billions of won (tens of millions of US dollars) in damage to the company by leading 'illegal' strikes.

A troubled company

Daewoo collapsed in August 1999 with debts of $80bn (£55bn) and was declared bankrupt three months ago.

The Financial Supervisory Commission in South Korea has asked prosecutors to seek arrest warrants for a number of former executives, including the founder Kim Woo-Choong, for accounting fraud.

Creditors and the government have been pushing for a radical reorganisation and cost cutting in preparation to sell the company.

US carmaker General Motors began talks with Daewoo in September to take over the troubled car-maker but little headway was made.

Analysts think the layoffs may help jump-start the talks.