President Moon Jae-in is set to hold his first dialogue with top business leaders here this week over beer to help break the ice and possibly allow more frank discussions, an official from the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Tuesday.
The talks will be held Thursday and Friday, each day involving part of the top executives from the 14 largest business conglomerates, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun.
"To ensure practical and candid discussions, President Moon will listen to their opinions in a form of beer meeting that defies formalities," the spokesman told reporters.
(Yonhap)
The top 14 local groups include Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials.
The scheduled meetings come amid apparent efforts by the president to accelerate what he has called a paradigm shift to people- and job-oriented growth.
To this end, the government earlier announced plans to increase the minimum wage to 10,000 won ($8.96) per hour by 2022 from the current 6,470 won per hour.
Such a move, however, is causing serious concerns, especially from the business circle, as it will inevitably lead to an increase in their costs.
In addition to increased income for workers, the new president is seeking to create some 810,000 new jobs in the public sector alone over his five-year term that will end in May 2022. (Yonhap)