South Korea commerce minister urges firms to create jobs

South Korea's commerce minister on Friday urged large conglomerates to help revamp the country's economy by boosting their investment and efforts to create jobs.The call came one day after the government revealed an economic stimulus plan, which it said may include drafting an additional budget.Yoon Sang-jick, the minister of trade, industry and energy, however, said such efforts will not have a significant effect without the help of private firms."The government unveiled the direction of its economic policy for the year yesterday, which consists of drafting an extra budget and boosting public investment, but the main points of the plan are investment and employment by private firms," the minister said in his congratulatory speech marking the opening of the Seoul Motor Show."The government plans to actively seek an economic recovery through an additional budget and various other policy measures from April, so I ask our companies to also expand their investment and actively seek to create more jobs," he added, according to his ministry.The remarks also came as the country's exports are widely expected to further shrink following an 8.6-percent on-year drop in February.To discuss ways to boost investment and employment by businesses, the commerce minister is set to meet with top officials from the country's 30 largest companies next week, the ministry said.