The government urged the heavy industries to push for a drastic reorganization of their business portfolios to boost their international competitiveness on Monday.

Industry Minister Yoon Sang-jick made the request to steelmakers, shipbuilders and oil refineries during his meeting with corporate CEOs and business association officials to discuss measures against slumping exports

“Korean firms need to voluntarily reshuffle their businesses to diversify and build a competitive export portfolio,” he said.

The outbound shipments of Korea, a heavily export-dependent economy, plummeted 14.7 percent on-year in August, and 6.1 percent in the first eight months of this year.

The minister also echoed the need for labor reforms including the wage system, claiming that the current high salaries will make Korean firms’ competitiveness “burst like a bubble.”

He explained that although the average salary of workers at Korean automakers is about 92.3 million won ($76,630) -- higher than Japan’s Toyota or Germany’s Volkswagen -- their per capita revenue is less than half of Toyota’s.

“Unionized workers of Hyundai Heavy Industries are on a partial strike even as the market continues to struggle at record levels. This is a deplorable bid that could spread to other shipbuilders,” Yoon said.

The remark comes a few days after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said the government would push ahead with labor market reform if the Korea Tripartite Commission fails to agree on issues involving the wage peak system.

Labor Minister Lee Ki-kwon had also recently said, “If the labor reforms are not done now, labor and management circles will not be the agents of reform but the target of one.”

Meanwhile, the industry minister urged to speed up the restructuring of steel and petrochemical sectors, which have been suffering from a drop in sales due to global oversupply.

“The government will put its utmost efforts to help reorganize business structures, including enacting a special law aimed at invigorating the industries,” he said.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)