The International Labor Organization(ILO) has requested the South Korean government to explain its stance behind the recent return-to-work order for striking cement truck drivers.

According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) and the labor ministry on Sunday, the ILO recently sent a written request to the ministry calling for Seoul’s opinion on the matter.

The move came after the KCTU and other local labor groups urged the international organization to swiftly intervene ahead of the invocation of the government order last week.

In a letter sent to KCTU representatives Yang Kyung-soo and Hyun Jeong-hee, Karen Curtis, deputy director of ILO International Labour Standards Department, said the ILO immediately intervened to deliver the ILO’s stance to the Korean government, and all information will be relayed to the union.

However, the ministry reportedly downplayed the ILO move as an opinion inquiry, not an expression of concern over the return-to-work order, an explanation echoed by finance minister Choo Kyung-ho during a briefing on the ongoing strike on Sunday.

The order, invoked for some 25-hundred cement truckers last Monday, is the first such order made for striking workers since the government order was introduced in 2004.