Cargo trucks are parked along a road in Korea's southern port city of Busan on the sixth day of a nationwide strike by unionized truckers, Nov. 29. Yonhap

Korea's business community urged striking truckers Wednesday to sit down for talks, saying their collective action is hurting the economy amid slowdown woes.

The advocacy groups representing cement, auto, steel, petrochemical and others made the call as the nationwide strike by unionized truckers entered its seventh day with no breakthrough in sight.

Thousands of truckers launched the strike on Thursday, demanding the government extend temporary rules guaranteeing minimum freight rates set to expire at the end of this year.

The strike is the second of its kind in five months. The government invoked a return-to-work order on cement truckers on Tuesday, the first time in 18 years such an executive order has been formulated.

"This is an unreasonable collective action. Our trade industry is again experiencing logistics difficulties at an already difficult time due to the global economic slowdown," Jeong Marn-ki, vice chair of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), said in a press briefing.

"The truckers' union must immediately stop the collective action refusing to transport and come up with a solution that can be a win-win for everyone, including shippers, drivers and transport providers," Jeong said.