Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon ordered the government Tuesday to thoroughly examine whether senior officials mistreat staff at official residences, diplomatic missions and secretaries' offices as public anger runs high over such abuses of power.

Lee ordered that all government ministries and agencies, including the Defense Ministry, the foreign ministry and police, look into whether there has been any unfair treatment of such staff, and report the results to the Prime Minister's Office by Aug. 16.

Lee instructed his office to combine the reports and come up with improvement measures by the end of this month. He said that such an abuse of power, known as "gapjil" in Korean, should no longer be overlooked or accepted.

The instruction came after President Moon Jae-in ordered an investigation a day earlier into cases of such ill-treatment amid public outrage in the wake of revelations that a top military general and his wife treated soldiers taking care of their residence like slaves.

The general and his wife are under a criminal investigation.

Fueling the outrage were similar cases of abuse and sexual harassment at a diplomatic mission aboard and private firms, with the chairman of a major pharmaceutical firm under strong fire for verbally abusing his chauffeurs. (Yonhap)