President Yoon Suk-yeol visits Seoul National Cemetery, Jan. 1. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Sunday to push reforms in labor, education and pensions, saying they cannot be delayed any longer and the country's future depends on it.

In a New Year's address live from his office, Yoon outlined his administration's plans to tackle economic challenges, such as by changing the country's export strategy and investing in future strategic technologies.

He especially warned there will be no future for a country "preoccupied with vested interests and rent-seeking" and promised reforms in labor, education and pensions.

"The Republic of Korea's future and our future generations' fate depend upon three major reforms: labor, education and pension. These cannot be delayed any longer," he said. "First of all, we must drive economic growth through labor reforms."

Yoon said his administration will do all it can to ensure fairness in labor-management and labor-labor relations, as well as to improve workplace safety while flexibly adapting the labor market to meet changing demands.

"The starting point for the labor reform is establishing rule of law in labor relations," he said. "Rule of law will provide a way to prevent unnecessary labor disputes and conflicts. With rule of law the value of labor will be rightfully respected."

Yoon also said the government must support companies pushing to transition to a duty-oriented, performance-based pay system "in a different manner" from those "preoccupied with a system based on seniority" and seeking to compromise with well-paid yet demanding unions.

On education reforms, Yoon said his administration will transfer oversight authority for higher education to local governments and give them the support they need so they can link education to their specific industries.

"Without these educational reforms, it will be difficult to accomplish balanced regional development," he said, adding that balanced regional development will help solve the problem of low birth rates.

On pension reforms, Yoon said the government will conduct research on pension finance, collect the public's opinion and submit a relevant bill to the National Assembly.

"The sustainability of the pension system cannot be guaranteed unless the issue of the snowballing deficit in pension finance is resolved," he said. (Yonhap)