SEOUL-- President Yoon Suk Yeol has said he is firmly committed to "normalizing" labor unions, criticizing some unions for engaging in irrelevant issues, such as opposing military exercises with the United States, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Yoon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting held Tuesday, stressing the government's most important task this year is to build a "decent market economy system where labor unions are like labor unions and business owners are like business owners," according to spokesman Lee Do-woon.

"If labor unions are normalized, our capital market will also be greatly developed," Yoon said. "Should labor unions that shout opposition to Korea-U.S. military exercises or peddle employment opportunities be normalized, the value of companies will rise automatically and jobs will be produced greatly."

Yoon has made labor reform one of his key policy agenda items, calling for accounting transparency of labor unions and vowing to root out illicit practices at construction sites, such as unions forcing companies to hire people they want.

"If the state backs off from labor unions any more, what would companies and the economy end up? Businesspeople are now watching our government," Yoon said. "Labor unions that commit corruption are a problem, but business owners that do nothing about the corruption are also a problem."

Yoon said he is committed to rooting out such "deep-rooted evils" until his term ends.

Source: Yonhap News Agency