SEOUL, Feb 4 (Reuters) - South Korea's 10 largest companies plan to invest 270 trillion won ($185.99 billion) in regional cities over the next five years, the head of a business lobby group said during a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday.
Including smaller companies, South Korean firms could invest up to 300 trillion won in regions outside the capital, said Ryu Jin, chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries.
"We are trying to revitalise local economies by making bold investments and give job opportunities to the youth in isolated regions," Ryu said at the meeting in the presidential Blue House to discuss the problem of rising youth unemployment.
At the meeting, Lee said "the achievements of the Korean economy should be shared with young people in regional areas," as he called on companies to hire more young workers.
Lee has identified stimulating regional economies as one of his priorities.
Ryu called on Lee's government to support the country's service sector, citing concerns that manufacturing jobs would decline as companies adopt the use of more robots.
"We should cope with the matter of youth employment by boosting the service industry that can create a great number of jobs," he said.
($1 = 1,451.7200 won)
Reporting by Heejin Kim Editing by Ed Davies
Source: Reuters