One of the nation's major umbrella unions involved in a tripartite dialogue with management and the government has decided to suspend participation in protest over an injury suffered by an affiliated executive during his arrest.

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions'(FKTU) decision to sit out the Economic, Social and Labor Council under the presidential office was reached during Wednesday's emergency session of its central executive committee.

The labor group has commissioned its leadership to decide on a possible withdrawal from the dialogue.

Last Wednesday, an executive of the Federation of Korean Metalworkers' Trade Unions suffered a head injury while he was being arrested by the police for staging a sit-in atop scaffolding near the Gwangyang steel mill.

The FKTU's boycott of the three-way talks, the first in over seven years, has closed off the official channel between the government and the labor community.