Kia Corp., the country's No. 2 automaker, has asked its labor union to agree to scrapping hiring favors given to employees' offspring, industry sources said Tuesday.

Under the collective agreement with the automaker's labor union, children of retirees and long-term employees of at least 25 years at Kia are given priority in the hiring process.

Earlier, the labor ministry said it booked the Korean Metal Workers' Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Kia for refusing to follow government orders to remove such a practice.

President Yoon Suk Yeol also criticized the hiring practice, as he 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.

Source: Yonhap News Agency