The ruling Saenuri Party's special labor reform committee held its first meeting Tuesday, as part of efforts to push ahead with revamping the nation's rigid labor market.

Last week, President Park Geun-hye's chief of staff, top government officials and party's senior leaders created the special committee in line with Park's drive to reform the structure of the labor sector.

"The 19th National Assembly's regular session is the last chance for reform," Rep. Rhee In-je, chief of the committee, said in a press briefing following the meeting.

"The committee will have a deep conversation with the opposition so that relevant laws can be passed during this year's session," Rhee said. 

Both Park and the ruling party have agreed that passing revisions to various labor and employment laws could help put the country's sluggish economy back on track and create more jobs eventually.

Rhee further said that the committee will act as a dialogue channel between the opposition party and a tripartite committee of the government, businesses and labor organizations so that the relevant parties can better discuss conflicting issues.

The key issue is introducing a wage peak system, a mechanism strongly opposed by the labor circle.

The government and the ruling party assert that the mechanism creates additional job openings for young workers by lowering the wages of those nearing retirement in exchange for extending their time on the job.

The dialogue between the tripartite committee has been stalled since April, when an umbrella labor union walked out of the negotiations with the government and management on labor market reforms.

"I hope that the tripartite committee of the government, businesses and labor organizations resumes early next month and comes up with a social consensus by September," Rhee said.

Rhee also called on the tripartite committee to resume dialogue and make concessions to produce a deal meant to get a social consensus on the issue.

Another issue at stake regards market duality -- the difference in pay and job security between regular and non-regular workers.

Park has repeatedly called to decrease the overall number of temporary workers who tend to feel less secure about their jobs than regular employees. (Yonhap)