Members on the Tripartite Committee from the Federation of National Harbor Unions, the Korea Deep Sea Fisheries Association, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MOMAF) announced Monday that there would be no strikes in their sector during 2002.

The committee leaders said they had agreed on the importance of stable relations between harbor labor and management in making the country a Northeast Asia hub, and for the successful hosting of the 2002 World Cup Finals and Busan Asian Games.

On March 20, the government decided to raise harbor loading and unloading fees by 5.8% for this year, which labor and management accepted. The harbor unions have 29,471 members from the three fields of harbor loading and unloading, agriculture and fisheries market docking, and railway docking.

MOMAF said, the declaration will work positively in improving the country's sovereign rating and inducing foreign investment as the harbor industry handles 99.7% of cargo imports and exports. Losses caused by a strike would reach some W1trillion a day.

(Song Eui-dal, edsong@chosun.com )