The leader of the ruling Saenuri Party emphasized the importance of reforming the country's rigid labor market to overcome protracted low growth and a lack of jobs for the next generations.
  

"We should be aware that all the countries in the world are fiercely struggling to find a way out from job shortages," Kim Moo-sung said in a meeting with senior party members. "While reform could bring hardships in the short term, it is for everyone's benefit in the long term."
  

The remarks came as President Park Geun-hye has been struggling to overhaul labor issues regarding market duality -- the difference in pay and job security between regular and non-regular workers.
  

Companies have become increasingly reluctant to recruit regular workers and instead only rely on non-regular workers that they can fire more easily as the economy remains sluggish, a development that has pushed up the jobless rate for young people. (Yonhap)