Business Dinner

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President Moon Jae-in will hold a second meeting with business leaders on Friday. At the Thursday meeting, the president and leaders of the nation's top corporations held candid talks over beer and snacks. The business leaders pledged to increase partnerships funds and hire more employees.

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President Moon Jae-in on Thursday invited the leaders of eight corporations, including Hyundai and LG, to the Cheong Wa Dae. At a meeting over beer and snacks, the president began a free conversation with his guests, holding a glass of craft beer in his hands.

[Soundbite] Pres. Moon Jae-in : "You don't need any documents or notes. I just want to have a free and comfortable conversation."

The guests brought their own presents in line with the theme of "coexistence and cooperation." Doosan Infracore, whose chairman also heads the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was the first to promise to grant permanent employment status to its temporary workers, while CJ said it would drectly hire some three thousand non-regular workers as permanent employees. Most of the conglomerates, including the top-4, vowed to create so-called "partnership funds" ranging in amount from 50 billion to 200 billion won to help their secondary and tertiary suppliers. The business leaders promised to hire more employees in the second half of the year in line with the government's job creation policy. On Friday, the guests will include the leaders of seven other conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics vice chairman Kwon Oh-hyun and SK chairman Chey Tae-won.