President Moon reaffirms commitment to strong anti-corruption reform

President Moon proclaimed a strong will to end corruption at the 3rd Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council

November 20, 2018

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

President Moon Jae-in presided over the third Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council attended by 36 heads of anti-corruption related agencies and relevant Ministers including ACRC Chairperson.

President Moon and the attendants followed up on the status of “ending irregularities in everyday life”, a promise emphasized in the President’s new year’s speech. They also discussed how to operate the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act which took effect two years ago.

At the meeting, the administration decided to form and operate Daily Life Irregularity Countermeasure Council to move beyond the achievements so far to a fair society where citizens can actually feel the difference. The Council, which will be run by the ACRC, will serve to eradicate daily life irregularities systematically and continuously.

The participants shared the view that since the people now aspire for a society that never turns a blind eye to even small unfairness and irregularities in their day-to-day life, more efforts should be made to realize a just nation intolerant to cheating and unfair privilege in the entire society.

In addition, in order to ensure that the two-year old Improper Solicitation and Graft Act could position itself as an effective policy tool to remove improper solicitation and graft-giving in every day life, they agreed to carry out government-wide measures to complement the law, such as increasing each government agency accountability for enforcement of the law, filling the law’s loophole, and establishing solicitation-free culture.

Especially, President Moon stressed that irregularities in the public sector and areas receiving government subsidies should be removed first. He called for consistent anti-corruption efforts, presenting four specific suggestions.

They are: (a) building anti-corruption infrastructure and monitoring system to prevent corruption in advance, (b) establishing laws and regulations to allow victims to report corruption cases without hesitation and receive relief, (c) expanding corruption reporter rewards system so that corruption can be monitored by all citizens, and (d) strictly punishing petty crimes, no matter how small they are.

During his closing remarks, President Moon said, “Most previous governments proclaimed and pursued the goal of anti-corruption and transparent nation and then showed a sign of progress for some time, but few continued to carry out the goal. I hope that officials in the current administration have a strong will to make differences and not follow such mistakes.”