SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ South Korean trade unions are expressing their opposition to ending a ban on U.S. beef imports with temporary strikes.

There's been a two-hour work stoppage at Kia by 20,000 workers. Tens of thousands of auto workers on other shifts at Kia and Hyundai planned to do the same.

The partial walkouts are the centerpiece of a one-day strike by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions to protest U.S. beef imports and the pro-business policies of President Lee Myung-bak (lee myuhng bahk).

The government calls the work stoppage ``illegal'' and says it's a political strike unrelated to working conditions.

The South Korean president's office denounces the walkout as an attempt to hurt the nation's economy.

The union federation says it wants to protect its members and other people from mad-cow disease.