President Park Geun-hye vowed Monday to drastically reform a wide range of sectors next year as she called for public support for her agenda.
   
She said next year is the right time to press ahead with reform as 2015 will be a year without any nationwide elections. Park's single five-year term ends in early 2018, and by law, she cannot seek re-election.
   
"Reform is not always easy and is bound to meet resistance, but there will be difficulty in reviving the economy and eventually we will leave a big burden to our future generations ... if we do not do what we should do now," Park said in a meeting meant to review progress in major policies this year. 
   
"I will press ahead with reform that must be done, whatever difficulty I may face."
  
The sectors that are subject to reform include the country's rigid labor market and the pension system for civil servants.
   
The comments came amid outrage from civil servants who claim the proposed reform could endanger their livelihoods.
   
Park's ruling conservative party has unveiled a set of measures to raise the eligibility age for public servants' pensions to 65 from 60, starting in 2031, and to raise the proportion of contributions from 7 percent of income to 10 percent. 
   
The case for pension reform has gained urgency as the increasing average life expectancy for Koreans could further deepen the pension deficit. The average life expectancy for Koreans stood at 81 in 2012, up nearly 30 years from 1960, when the pension system was first drawn up.
  
South Korea has faced the looming crisis as previous governments delayed addressing the issue of pensions for civil servants, despite being aware for decades that the current pension plan is not sustainable.
  
Park also said the government will make aggressive efforts to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula next year, though she did not elaborate. 
   
The comments came as South Korea proposed that the two Koreas hold minister-level talks next month to discuss issues of mutual concern, including the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
   
Still, it remains uncertain whether Pyongyang will accept the proposal.
   
The two Koreas had agreed to hold vice ministerial talks between late October and early November during a surprise visit to South Korea by a high-powered North Korean delegation. But the North later backtracked on the deal in protest of South Korean leaflets critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
   
The anti-Pyongyang leaflets have become a key issue that could make or break South Korea's ties with North Korea.
   
North Korean defectors in South Korea regularly send leaflets to their homeland to try to encourage North Koreans to rise up against Kim, a move that has drawn fierce protest from Pyongyang. 
   
In November, North Korea ruled out any government-to-government dialogue to improve ties unless South Korea takes action to halt the cross-border leafleting campaign.
   
South Korea has said there are no legal grounds to prevent its activists from floating the leaflets, citing freedom of expression. (Yonhap)