South Korean financial-sector workers stepped up opposition to government plans to relocate roughly 350 public institutions from the greater Seoul area, staging a general strike rally that drew about 14,000 Korea Financial Industry Union members on Sept. 4. The union, whose participants included employees of Korea Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of Korea and Industrial Bank of Korea, demanded prior consultation over headquarters moves, a 4.5-day workweek and a 6% wage increase. The government has said it will begin moving several central-government headquarters to Sejong in the first half of next year, including the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the Korean National Police Agency and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Financial institutions were not included in that announcement, but concerns persist at the Financial Services Commission and among policy-bank workers that they could face later relocation decisions. Union members argue moves could erode institutions' ability to retain specialized staff and weaken Seoul's financial competitiveness, while earlier reporting showed commercial-bank operations were largely unaffected by the labor action.