Park calls for boosting domestic demand, investment

President Park Geun-hye called Thursday to boost domestic demand and investment to help revitalize South Korea's economy amid sluggish growth and exports.

She also asked officials to front load fiscal spending and ensure that nationwide discount events, like Korean Black Friday, can be held on a regular basis to keep boosting consumption.

Korea's version of Black Friday helped boost sales of major department store chains by 11.4 percent in November in the second consecutive month of an on-year rise for department stores according to government data.

Park made the comments before she received a report from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and six other ministries on the country's major economic policies for this year.

The Bank of Korea kept its key rate unchanged at a record low 1.5 percent for January in the latest move to help bolster growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

South Korea's exports dipped every single month in 2015. An earlier report from the central bank said the country's growth potential has further slipped to the low 3 percent range for the 2015-2018 period from the mid 3-percent range in the 2011-2014 period.

Park also renewed calls for labor reform to create jobs and to boost domestic demand.

Moon Jae-in, leader of the opposition Minjoo Party, rejected Park's calls for cooperation on the parliamentary approval of a set of bills meant to reform South Korea's labor markets. (Yonhap)