Korea's finance minister said Thursday that the government will make all-out efforts to minimize the possible fallout in the local economy from tough corporate restructuring in the shipbuilding sector.

"The government will map out plans to support smooth corporate restructuring and business reorganization, and to improve the competitiveness of key industries," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said while visiting a shipyard in Ulsan, an industrial city on the southeastern coast.

"We will mobilize all measures to fend off job instability and a slowdown in the local economy." Nationwide corporate restructuring is underway in the most troubled shipbuilding and shipping sectors, with massive layoffs and bankruptcies of subcontracting companies to be expected.

The latest data showed that the unemployment rate in the southeastern area, where most of the troubled shipbuilders are located, started to rise at a remarkable pace, raising concerns that it would spread to other industries and undermine the entire economy.

Some have argued that the government should take preemptive measures before the fallout from the corporate restructuring becomes more visible. The finance minister said the government will designate the shipbuilding sector as a specially administered industry to increase the subsidies given to employers and jobless workers.

The government will also help skilled workers laid off from shipbuilding companies get retrained for new jobs in other industries like semiconductor and petroleum, he added.

The measures to support corporate restructuring are expected to be included in a set of stimulus packages scheduled to be released by the finance ministry next week. (Yonhap)