President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the government Monday to root out the hiring practice of some companies giving children of existing employees favorable treatment, his spokesperson said.
"Hereditary employment, which takes away the opportunities of future generations, should be rooted out at all costs," Yoon said during a weekly meeting with his senior secretaries, according to Lee Do-woon.
Yoon's instruction came as the labor ministry revealed it booked the Korean Metal Workers' Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Kia Corp. for refusing to follow government orders to remove a clause from a labor-management agreement under which children of retirees and long-term employees of at least 25 years are given priority in the hiring process.
Yoon has made labor reform one of his top priorities and ordered stern measures to increase labor unions' accounting transparency and eradicate violence at labor sites.
The president later held a weekly meeting with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and called for measures to utilize the weirs built on the four major rivers -- Geum, Yeongsan, Nakdong and Han -- amid repeated droughts and flooding caused by climate change, the spokesperson said.
The measures should be based on a scientific and objective reevaluation of the weirs, Yoon was quoted as saying.
The rivers project was a hallmark of the administration of former conservative President Lee Myung-bak but was accused by critics of failing to control water levels during floods.
Yoon was also briefed by Han on follow-up measures to a recent wildfire in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung.
The president ordered utmost efforts to help affected residents quickly return to their everyday lives, as well as systematic measures to prevent repeated wildfires on the east coast.
Source: Yonhap News Agency