President Park Geun-hye says the government will spare no efforts to foster midsized enterprises as a key pillar of the economy.

She made the remark on Friday during a luncheon held at the presidential office to which she invited some 140 officials of midsized firms.

During the event, the president said the government will also tackle the issue of midsized firms being subject to the same regulations as large conglomerates.

She said that some people worry about the side effects of eased regulations but stressed the primary aim of deregulation is to encourage midsized firms to create new growth industries and quality jobs targeting the global market.

President Park also reiterated an earlier promise made in 2013 to lay the bridge for small firms to grow into midsize and then to large companies. She added that the government has steadily worked to remove obstacles that stand in the growth of midsized firms.

Under domestic law, a midsized firm refers to an enterprise that has over 500 billion won in overall assets, hires more than one-thousand permanent workers, with annual average sales of over 150 billion in the past three years.