The Federation of Korean Industries on Thursday pledged to make aggressive investments and hire more workers this year despite a gloomy outlook for the global economy.

The seven members of the lobby for big businesses, along with FKI chairman Huh Chang-soo, held their first meeting this year at the Lotte Hotel Seoul in central Seoul on Thursday.

The nation’s top 30 conglomerates agreed to continue investments this year. In 2011, they had planned to invest 11.5 trillion won and hire 1 million new workers combined.

The participants also decided to join hands for job creation by elevating irregular workers to regulars and employing more high-school graduates and senior citizens.

As part of their efforts to improve the image of conglomerates, the FKI’s leading members vowed to enhance their corporate social contributions and promote the shared growth of large and small companies in a more balanced manner, the association said.

By Lee Ji-yoon
 (jylee@heraldcorp.com)