President Lee Myung-bak Thursday (May 7) stressed that securing a flexible labor market should be a top priority Korea should achieve to overcome the global economic downturn.

Speaking at a weekly emergency economic council meeting, President Lee said that if Korea fails to reform the labor market, the Korean economy will fall in international competition and urged government officials to help improve labor market conditions by the end of this year.

Lee recently praised the country''s labor organizations for voluntarily cutting wages under the so-called job-sharing program.

The job sharing program entails pay cuts for new employees and freezing the wages of existing workers for the next few years. The money gained through these pay cuts and pay freezes will be used to stabilize the employment market and hire new employees or interns.

He also said that thanks to the government''s extensive spending for the past year, Korea shows signs of economic recovery, but said that now it is time for the private sector play the leading role in reviving the economy.

President Lee added that the country''s economic conditions are slowly improving, but said the nation needs to work with caution because conditions are unclear and Korea still has a long way to go before a complete recovery.