A trilateral committee of labor, management and government representatives agreed Tuesday on the basic principles of their future discussions on reforming the labor market and to finish discussing three top topics, including easing discrimination against irregular workers, by March.

   The Economic and Social Development Commission adopted a basic agreement on labor market reform at the end of a main session held at the main government building in Seoul.

   The three parties shared the need to reform various laws and systems introduced to support the country's fast economic growth in the past in "a future-oriented way" to overcome the crisis of the present and the future.

   They also agreed to "share their social responsibilities and burdens" based on "the accountability on the reality of the labor market."

   In addition to the two basic principles of discussions, the agreement included five agenda items and 14 detailed topics. The committee also decided to finish discussing three of the five items as priorities by March.

   The three were easing the so-called "dual structure" of the labor market, settling pending labor issues over wage, working hours and retirement age, and mending the nation's weak social safety net.

   The agreement came one day after the finance ministry called for structural reforms to make the labor market more flexible as part of key economic policy plans for next year to improve national competitiveness and fuel growth.

   The government is seeking to ease "inflexibility" in employment at large businesses and public companies as part of its structural reform of the economy.

   "As you know, today's agreement is a very historical thing in a situation where structural reform of the labor market is needed to make quality jobs," Choi Kyung-hwan, finance minister, told reporters after the trilateral meeting. "We can achieve anything if labor and management make a compromise walking in the other's shoes." (Yonhap)