S Korea-disparities

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- The government on Thursday held the inaugural steering group meeting of a new task force announced a day earlier to address disparities across various sectors, the finance ministry said.

First Vice Finance Minister Kwon Dae-young and First Vice Health Minister Hyun Soo-yeob hosted the meeting in Seoul, a day after the government announced plans to launch the task force led by the finance minister.

The task force consists of a steering group overseeing five working groups tasked with addressing disparities in the labor market, industries, regions, generations and social classes.

Each working group will be led by a vice minister responsible for the respective area and work with state-run research institutes to identify key policy tasks, according to the finance ministry.

The working groups will hold weekly meetings, while the steering group will meet at least twice a month.

Policy measures agreed upon by the ministries by the end of this year will be included in South Korea's economic growth strategy for 2027.

"Now is the moment for the government to answer the question of whether everyone is growing together," Kwon said, pointing out that the wages of nonregular workers stood at only 61 percent of those of regular employees at large companies last year.

Kwon also called for closer interagency cooperation to develop comprehensive policy measures covering fiscal spending, taxation, finance and regulatory reforms.

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