President Park Geun-hye vowed Monday to revitalize South Korea's economy and reform the country as she called for national reconciliation.

"We face the task of an economic takeoff and an innovation of the country by overcoming difficulties," Park said in a message marking Buddha's birthday. "The government will accomplish the tasks of (our) era along with the people and make every effort for the happiness of the people."

The message was read by Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok at Jogyesa, the chief temple of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect, in downtown Seoul.

Park's comments came as she is struggling to overhaul civil service pensions in a way that would require public officials to pay more while in service and receive less after retirement.

The public employee pension reform is a key agenda of the Park administration, though she faces strong opposition from the labor unions that represent public servants.

"I hope that our society will move toward reconciliation," Park said in the message.

Last week, the rival parties agreed to make a fresh attempt to pass a bill on the public employee pension reform through the National Assembly in coming days.

They had forged a bipartisan deal on reforming civil service pensions, but they failed to pass a bill earlier this month as the ruling party rejected the opposition's demand that benefits from the national pension scheme for ordinary South Koreans be increased to 50 percent of pre-retirement income.

Park has stressed the urgency of overhauling the civil service pension, warning that by next year, the government will be forced to use 10 billion won ($9 million) of taxpayer money every day to fund civil service pensions unless the parliament passes a reform bill by early May.

Also Monday, Buddhist ceremonies were held in some 20,000 temples across the country. (Yonhap)