Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn pledged Thursday to press ahead with deregulation in employment, finance and other sectors.

He also said the government will ensure that unnecessary regulations that could place big burdens on companies will not be created.

He made the comment in a meeting with officials at an industrial complex in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, without saying how he plans to cut the red tape.

President Park Geun-hye has been pushing to lift or ease all but core regulations to help revive South Korea's faltering economy, calling unnecessary business restrictions "our archenemy" and a "cancer."

Also Thursday, Hwang renewed the government's commitment to reforming South Korea's rigid labor market to help create jobs and to boost the economy.

"The government will make efforts to create jobs for more than 200,000 young people by 2017 by joining forces with the business community," Hwang said in a speech in Seoul. (Yonhap)