Striking South Korea truckers trickle back to work

SEOUL, June 19 (Reuters) - Hundreds of striking South Korean truckers whose protest has paralysed ports and cost export firms billions of dollars, reached deals with employers and returned to work on Thursday, easing pressure on an embattled president.

President Lee Myung-bak is expected to apologise later in the day for an unpopular U.S. beef import deal that sparked street protests against his government and announce a shake-up of his top aides to try to win back public support, a spokesman said.

The truckers reached tentative agreements with employers including steelmakers POSCO (005490.KS) and Hyundai Steel (004020.KS) for higher pay, the transport ministry said.

On Wednesday, thousands of construction workers and hundreds of other truckers went back to work after the government offered them deals that would save them money on operating costs.

The labour strikes have cost the country at least $6 billion in lost business as some companies stopped production lines after they ran out of storage space and ran low on parts and materials.

The transport ministry said the amount of cargo going through ports is picking up as truckers return to work but overall levels are much lower than normal because ports remained clogged.

Lee scored a landslide victory in December on a pro-business platform including privatisation of state-owned assets, corporate tax cuts and deregulation in the financial services sector.

Analysts said they expect large parts of Lee's reforms to be delayed due to his faltering support, now under 20 percent.

A parliament where Lee's conservative Grand National Party holds the majority has yet to start because of a boycott by the left-of centre opposition angered at the beef deal.

Top U.S. and South Korean trade officials have been meeting in Washington trying to strike a voluntary deal that prevents beef products South Koreans see as posing a high risk for mad cow disease from being sent to what was once a major U.S. beef importer. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)