President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to eradicate "cartels" with vested interests in the construction industry on Tuesday, citing them as a reason behind shoddy construction practices revealed at apartment underground parking lots.

Yoon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting following revelations that not enough reinforcing rods were used in building underground parking lots at a number of apartment complexes across the country to cut costs and speed up construction.

"Cartels with vested interests that disregard people's safety must be smashed up," Yoon emphasized. The issue of cartels with corrupt forces has been a recurrent subject of concern for Yoon.

The land ministry found that 15 apartment complexes constructed by the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp. did not use sufficient reinforcing rods in their underground parking lots. The discovery came after two upper structures of an underground parking lot under construction in Geomdan in the western city of Incheon collapsed in April due to a lack of reinforcing rods.

Yoon ordered relevant government agencies to conduct safety checks on all suspected cases and take immediate countermeasures to ensure the residents' safety.

"Our government is an anti-cartel government," Yoon reiterated, stressing that eliminating corrupt cartel forces is a prerequisite for achieving any kind of innovation and reform.

Yoon also clarified that all the problematic apartment complexes were designed and constructed before the current administration took office.

"Stringent administrative and judicial sanctions should be imposed on violating cases," Yoon said, urging the government to devise countermeasures to address the problematic practices in the construction industry. (Yonhap)