Business in the New Year

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Business leaders called for deregulation at a New Year’s gathering on Wednesday. High ranking officials of the government and the business world exchanged greetings and offered promises of innovation and growth in the New Year.

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Business leaders have gathered at one place. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a New Year's meeting to exchange greetings. The heads of large firms including Chamber chairman Park Yong-maan attended the event but key conglomerate chiefs were absent. From the government side, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and related ministers attended. Both government and business officials were united in their call for innovative growth, and assessed economic achievements as the nation ushers in an era of 30,000-dollar per capita income this year. They also agreed that the way of thinking and practices of the past era must change now. The business community vowed to position itself at the level of the public's viewpoint through trust and communication. It also had requests for the government.

[Soundbite] Park Yong-man(Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry) : "We ask the government to revamp policies and rules so that companies can launch many more new projects."

In response, the government said it will boldly remove regulations that hinder innovative growth. But the government was also clear that it will not neglect the big issues of higher minimum wage and shorter work hours.

[Soundbite] Lee Nak-yon(Prime Minister) : "The government will consider the conditions of both management and labor and make best efforts or a soft landing of new labor measures by employing various policy tools."

From the labor circle, the chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions attended the gathering and called for efforts to achieve shared growth. The president usually attends the New Year's meeting of the wider business sector, but this year as well as last year, the prime minister attended instead.