Park renews calls for job creation

President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday renewed her calls for job creation as she pressed labor and management to reach a compromise for labor reform.

The government has set aside 2.12 trillion won of this year's budget meant to create jobs for young people, up 20.3 percent from a year earlier.

Park said job creation through labor reform is the most urgent task.

"Labor and management should make concessions and share pains," Park said in a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office. "I expect labor and management to make a determination to ensure labor reform is accomplished and its reform takes root."

The parliament showed no signs of passing the set of bills which Park said would help reform South Korea's labor markets and revitalize the economy.

On Tuesday, South Korea's major umbrella labor union declared the breakdown of a trilateral deal on labor reform, citing the government's unilateral push for a plan to make the labor market more flexible.

Last month, the government announced draft guidelines to allow companies to formally sack underperforming employees and amend employment rules more easily even without consent from workers.

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions claimed that the government drew up the guidelines unilaterally, breaching a September deal in which labor, management and the government agreed to have full discussions before releasing any reform measures.

Under current labor law, companies can terminate employee contracts only when they are either involved in corruption or an embezzlement case, or when the firm has to lay off workers due to serious financial difficulties.(Yonhap)