SEOUL President Kim Dae-Jung on Tuesday rebuffed a call by South Korean conglomerates to ease up corporate restructuring and vowed to push ahead with "unswerving" reforms.

"Reforms are receiving international support and were agreed by the businesses," Kim told a cabinet meeting. "We should push ahead with unswerving reforms all the time."

On Monday, conglomerates, or chaebols, demanded the lifting of restrictions on their operations to rescue them from worsening economic troubles, AFP reported.

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a lobby group of top chaebols, urged Kim's government to remove restrictions imposed on companies in response to the financial crisis which struck South Korea in 1997.

But the president defended his reform drive and insisted the chaebols "tighten their belts" to complete corporate restructuring under which firms are being forced to reduce debt, shed nonprofitable companies and strengthen competitiveness.

The FKI on Monday called for the lifting of the government-imposed 25-percent limit on the Chaebol's equity investment in sister firms and 200-percent debt to equity ratio ceiling.

The restrictions, aimed at preventing reckless business expansion by leading companies that dominate the economy, were part of an accord between the government and conglomerates in 1998, when Kim took office.