SEOUL, May 24 (AFP) - Reformist Kang Bong-Kyun took the helm of South Korea's economy Monday in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at tightening the reins on corporate restructuring. Kang, a senior advisor to President Kim Dae-Jung, replaced Lee Kyu-Sung as finance minister at the head of the government's economic team. "I will push through unremitting reforms. My commitment to reforming the chaebol will not be swayed," Kang said, adding he was given full command over economic policy. He also vowed to speed up South Korea's market liberalization as agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Analysts described Kang, 56, as more reform-minded than his predecessor, saying unwieldy conglomerates, known as the chaebol, would come under further pressure to slim down their corporate empires. The reshuffle involving nearly all economic ministers was highlighted by Kang's appointment, reflecting the government's determination to put the economy on a solid footing, they said. "The appointment of Kang as the new finance minister could be translated as (a sign of) the government's commitment to carry through economic and chaebol reforms," Daewoo Securities' Lee Young-Mok said. Kang, a career technocrat who has a doctorate in macro-economics, has been the man behind the government's reform drive since President Kim took office in early 1998. The sprawling conglomerates, blamed for reckless expansion through heavy borrowings, have aired a string of reform plans. But Kang has blasted their lax attiude towards restructuring. He started his career in the 1960s at a bureau in charge of economic development plans. Along with Kang, the president appointed Jin Nyum was as budget agency minister, a newly created post, and retained Lee Hun-Jai as head of the powerful Financial Supervisory Commission. The trio has spearheaded the restructuring of debt-ridden financial and corporate sectors to ride out Asia's financial upheaval which forced Seoul to seek a massive IMF bailout in late 1997. Vice finance and economy minister Chung Duck-Koo was promoted to minister of trade, industry and energy. "The new cabinet is required to put through strong and steady reforms" to steer the economy onto a solid footing, a top presidential aide said. Critics have said restructuring efforts by the chaebol were slackening as the economy improved rapidly. "The president has been displeased with the slow reform pace of top chaebol," outgoing spokesman Park Ji-won said earlier. South Korea's economy grew 4.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, prompting the central Bank of Korea to declare the economy had returned to pre-crisis levels. It was the first positive quarterly growth since late 1997. The economy suffered a 5.8-percent contraction last year. Economists, however, cautioned the recent upturn could rapidly slow down in the latter of this year, citing a slow recovery in exports and fragile domestic consumption. "The rapid recovery trends of late are merely a technical rebound from last year's deep recession," LG Economic Research Institute said in a report last week.  