SEOUL, June 2 (Reuters) - South Korean e-commerce and

courier companies agreed to a rare halt of their delivery

services on Tuesday to allow busy delivery workers time to cast

their ballot in the country's snap presidential election after

pressure from unions and activists.

Asia's fourth-largest economy has a highly tuned e-commerce

sector and South Koreans typically rely on couriers to deliver

everything from fresh food to clothing, often in a matter of

hours, with the service normally available throughout the year.

South Korea's biggest e-commerce platform Coupang ( CPNG ),

agreed to halt express deliveries for the first time since it

launched in 2014, joining other local delivery services such as

CJ Logistics and Hanjin Logistics.

"Rocket delivery will be paused during the day on June 3,"

New York-listed Coupang ( CPNG ) said in a notice on its platform,

pausing deliveries between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Most of the tens of thousands of delivery workers in South

Korea are considered gig workers or self-employed and do not

enjoy the same legal protections as permanent employees.

The job is also notorious for long working hours and a heavy

workload, with couriers complaining they have seen few of the

benefits from an improvement in labour rights in other sectors.

The agreement to temporarily halt services during the polls,

was positively received by some workers.

"I welcome the decision. But on the other hand, it is a

little regrettable that night drivers cannot rest," said Cho

Shin-hwan, a Coupang ( CPNG ) courier, who had to work on past elections.

Nearly 8 in 10 eligible voters in South Korea voted in the

last presidential election in 2022, a far higher turnout than

recent elections held in other democracies such as the United

States and Japan.

Presidential election days are designated as a national

holiday in South Korea to encourage workers to vote, with polls

for the snap election staying open between 6 a.m. (Monday 2100

GMT) and 8 p.m. (1100 GMT) on Tuesday.

"Those affected worked hard to achieve this," said Kim

Eun-jung, Deputy Secretary General at the People's Solidarity

for Participatory Democracy, a non-governmental body,

highlighting how delivery workers were excluded from current

labour protection laws.

The June 3 presidential election was called after the

Constitutional Court ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this

year for his short-lived imposition of martial law on December

3.