The South Korean economy could grind to a halt over the coming days amid calls for a series of crippling “domino strikes” aimed at closing down the country’s biggest industries.

With hundreds of thousands of Koreans taking to the streets each night to protest against proposed imports of US beef, the fledgling Government of President Lee Myung-bak faces its greatest threat – industrial action that will anihilate his reputation as the business-friendly “chief executive of Korea” and could cost the fragile economy billions of dollars.

What began as small public demonstrations against Mr Lee’s plans to restart US beef imports – after their 2003 ban following a BSE scare – have morphed into far deeper anger with the new President and his brusque, authoritarian style of government.

Mr Lee was voted in with promises of reform to Korea’s troubled economy. But, despite a landslide election victory last December, his privatisation and pension reform plans have quickly aroused the fury of Korea’s still potent left wing. Increasingly noisy calls for his resignation are accompanied by fears that Mr Lee may be lining himself up as the “Thatcher of Korea”.

Rising calls for a general strike were significantly strengthened on Monday as thousands of building sites across South Korea were silenced by striking cement mixer drivers.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is calling for similar actions by 600,000 of its members, and the mood on the streets of Seoul is pushing harder for a mass walkout across dozens of sectors of the economy.

“We will walk out like the baseball batting order goes; the first batter is the Korea Cargo Transport Workers’ Union, the second batter is the constructors’ and machinery workers, followed by the metal workers and the railway workers,” said Lee Seok-haeng, president of the KCTU.

Militant union action has seen 13,000 haulage truckers stage three days of strikes: their actions have stymied production at big electronics factories and steelworks and yesterday slowed down trade at the vast commercial port of Busan to a fraction of its usual rate. Losses suffered by the export-led economy over the past few days are calculated by analysts at the Korea International Trade Association to be around $500 million (£255 million).

The truckers’ principal complaint is that they unfairly bear the burden of higher fuel prices and a system of expensive commission charges they have to pay to remain competitive in a cut-throat cargo contract brokerage market. Truckers say that their strikes will not end until the Government steps in to lower fuel costs and persuades employers to raise wages.