The minister of knowledge economy and the chief of the Federation of Korean Industries met on Tuesday to stress their commitment to shared growth between large and small companies despite recent controversies.

The meeting comes just days after Chung Un-chan stepped down as head of the council dedicated to co-prosperity of business giants and small firms last Thursday, criticizing the FKI.

Chung said the lobbying group for the nation’s largest conglomerates should be reborn or disbanded, and slammed the big firms for “disregard of economic justice and law.”

Against such backdrop, Minister Hong Suk-woo and FKI chief Huh Chang-soo emphasized that they will remain steadfast in their efforts to spread a culture for mutual growth by encouraging benefit sharing.

The two also discussed ways to prevent the rise of an anti-corporate sentiment and reduce working hours.

Hong urged the FKI to take the lead in making more companies join benefit sharing in which they share the profits reaped from cooperation with suppliers under prearranged contracts.

“It is essential that the owners of large conglomerates show greater interest and change their perception of mutual growth,” Hong said.

Huh replied that the FKI will do its best by prodding more companies to sign up for confirmation of benefit sharing this month and ink an agreement in May to voluntarily push for benefit sharing.

Huh feared, however, that the plan to grade large companies’ efforts for shared growth in four levels and disclose the results late this month would greatly hurt the reputation of firms in the lowest level.

While expressing concern over the anti-corporate sentiment fanned by politicians, Hong said large companies should keep from encroaching on the businesses of small shops and boost social contributions.

The FKI said it will check on chaebol’s proposed retreat from side street businesses, build more child care facilities and find ways to improve their reputation through a public survey this month.

About the government drive to reduce long work hours, Huh said the FKI was strongly opposed to including weekend and holiday work in the calculation of the weekly overtime tally by law without proper consideration of the circumstances.

The current law limits weekly work hours to 40 hours of regular work plus 12 hours of overtime. The rule, however, does not apply to weekend or holiday work, so it is not illegal to have an employee work 52 hours during the five working days and eight hours each on Saturday and Sunday.

Hong said the long work hours should be shortened gradually based on agreements between labor and management, and called for the FKI’s role in changing labor practices.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)