Still, several low-cost carriers entered the market in recent years, heating up competition and creating thoands of new jobs.

"Jobs will not be created unless a real competitive market is set up," Kim Jin-pyo, chairman of the State Affairs Policy Planning Committee, said before being briefed by the Fair Trade Commission, the anti-trt regulator.

He also said the recent launch of an Internet-only bank could bring changes in the traditional banking indtry, which he claims has been locked in a kind of price fixing system.

K-Bank, South Korea's first Internet-only bank, has attracted more than 300,000 ctomers after launching operations last month.

The bank is open around the clock, offering services ranging from ordinary deposits to loans with more favorable interest rates than those provided by brick-and-mortar banks.

South Korea's financial regulator has also granted final approval to another Internet-only lender, Kakao Bank, setting the stage for fierce competition in the banking sector going forward.

Kim also asked the Fair Trade Commission to make its voice heard, noting monopoly practices and price fixing have sapped the country's economic vitality.

South Korea has long been trying to rein in the economic dominance of family-run conglomerates called chaebol and "level the playing field" for smaller firms that hire the bulk of the country's workers. (Yonhap)