South Korea seeks top labour leader's arrest

SEOUL, July 24 (Reuters) - South Korean police sought the arrest of the leaders of a powerful labour group on Thursday for orchestrating a strike against embattled President Lee Myung-bak, who renewed his pledge to get tough with lawbreakers.

Lee, a conservative former executive who faced more than two months of street protests over an unpopular deal to reopen the domestic market to U.S. beef, had previously spurned a meeting with the labour leaders until they answered police summons.

A Seoul court issued arrest warrants for Lee Suk-haeng, the president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and his deputies for leading a strike earlier this month against the beef import deal.

The confederation said the arrests amounted to political oppression and vowed to be "even more uncompromising" in its fight against the government.

The KCTU is the country's second-largest labour group, with more than 600,000 due-paying members in auto-making, shipbuilding and financial services.

The labour group has ignored repeated calls by President Lee to be less confrontational and do more to raise productivity.

On Thursday, Lee said his government's priority was the rule of law and said law enforcement must be transparent and firm.

Lee, who came to power by the largest-ever margin of votes in December on a pro-business platform, has seen his support dwindle to less than 20 percent and has put most of his economic reform plans, including tax cuts, deregulation and privatisation of state assets, on hold.

KCTU members walked off the job on July 2, stopping assembly lines at major carmakers including Hyundai Motor, as they urged the government to call off the U.S. beef import deal.