The South Korean government said today that it will freeze wages of employees in all public firms and government agencies and cut general spending next year.

According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the public sector will cut general spending by an average of more than 5 percent next year in a bid to ease the burden of the troubled economy.

The South Korean government announced in June that heads of state-run enterprises will be paid 16.3 percent less than the previous year on average, and auditors will receive 26.7 percent wage cuts.