Now is best time for restructuring: South Korea's Lee

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Monday that the time is right to push ahead with restructuring and reform in both private and public sectors, although recent economic indicators showed an improvement.

Lee said it might take much longer for living standards and labor market to improve, even if the economy entered a recovery phase.

"We have quite a long way to go... It is not a time to be relaxed," he said in a prepared radio speech.

Lee said South Korea had let its guard down so early in the process of recovering from the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s that it had not completed restructuring and reforms.

That in turn led to a heat-up in household lending and a credit card crisis in 2003 and 2004.

Data showed job losses in South Korea fell slightly in April after record fiscal spending, and April exports fell less than expected, the latest signs that the global economic slump that drove Korea to the edge of recession may be easing.

Lee's remarks echoed calls by the country's top financial regulator for tougher restructuring earlier this month and pledges by domestic banks to spearhead bolder corporate restructuring.

(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Alex Richardson)