Korea’s anti-bribery law amended to punish foreign bribery through a third party

November 29, 2018

Ministry of Justice

The Republic of Korea

On November 29, 2018, the National Assembly passed a bill to amend the Act on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Foreign Bribery Prevention Act: FBPA) which bans paying bribes to third party beneficiaries.

Under the amendment, bribes given or received through a third party for the purpose of bribing foreign public officials are subject to the same punishment imposed against bribes directly offered to foreign public officials.

Unlike the Criminal Act, which covers an act of bribing Korean public officials, the current FBPA imposes sanctions only against those directly giving, promising, or expressing their intention to give a bribe to a foreign official, not against those paying bribes to third party beneficiaries.

The current act has had limits in perfectly regulating bribery as it could not punish bribery through so called a broker.

Major developed nations, such as the US, the UK, and Germany punish bribery through a third party, and OECD Anti-Bribery Convention meetings have consistently recommended revising the FBPA

The passage of the amendment will subject bribing foreign public officials to the same punishment against bribing Korean public officials, which could enhance the law’s effectiveness in tackling bribe offenses.

Moreover, the international community could see the FBPA’s amendment as stronger efforts to tackle corruption, which could lead to increasing sovereign ratings of Korea.