He further said, "For the past 50 years, Korea has made an impressive growth envied by the world. It is time for everyone in the society from students to women and to youths to be allowed to prove their full potential and share their ideas freely."

 

"Although the intense competition to enter college has been somehow positive for Korea in making young students to work hard and prepare them to be hard-working employees in the manufacturing shopfloor, it may kill their creative spirit," he added. Dr. Kim suggested to come up with an educational system in which non-cognitive abilities such as empathy and challenge spirit can be developed in parallel with cognitive ability. He will make another speech on the opening day on the 5th about development strategy for social integration and confidence building.

 

Commenting on the issue of women's labor market participation, he said, "Korea is unable to fully utilize the potential of women. The share of women in their age between 15 and 64 who are in the labor market in 2013 was 56 percent while that for men is 78 percent. In addition, Korean women are paid 37 percent less salaries than their male counterparts, which is the largest gap among all OECD member countries." He urged, "The Korean economy will grow substantially if the female labor market participation ratio is raised."

 

Article provided by The Korea Economic Daily