Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn called Thursday for enhancing the competitiveness of the country's service sector as part of a broader country-wide effort to prop-up the sluggish economy.

The premier said that the service sector has good growth potential but has made a relatively small impact on exports. He pointed out that the local service sector's contribution to the national economy lags far behind those of the world's advanced industrialized countries.

The top policymaker made the remarks during a meeting with eight corporate leaders representing the local service industry in Seoul.

The service industry accounted for 15.1 percent in the country's entire exports as of end-September last year, compared with an average 29.2 percent for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as a whole, according to a recent report.

The policymaker stressed that the South Korean service industry needs to turn outwards and become globalized so it can play a greater role in spurring economic growth.

Hwang also renewed calls for parliamentary approval of the service-sector promotion bill, which aims at making changes to the country's education, health and medical systems. The changes are designed to make them more competitive and create new business opportunities and jobs.

The law has been held up in the National Assembly mainly due to the liberal opposition's concern of fallout like a possible rise in consumer costs, particularly in the medical sector.

Hwang has held meetings with various business representatives regularly since taking office in June 2015 to discuss ways to revive the economy that has been hit by the global downturn.

The service sector as defined by Statistics Korea covers recycling, retail and wholesale, hospitality, publishing, real estate and rental, value-added professional services, industry support operations, education, sports and leisure, and other private small-scale businesses. (Yonhap)