Citizens choose 10 greatest public interest whistleblowers in Korea

December 4, 2018

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

The 10 greatest public interest whistleblowers who contributed to changing Korean society, were selected by citizens. They included a whistleblower who disclosed Defense Security Command’s illegal inspection on civilians. In order to acknowledge and honor the contribution made by such whistleblowers to the society, the first Whistleblower Day was celebrated on December 5th.

At the ceremony, ACRC announced the “10 greatest public interest whistleblowers who changed Korean”, who were selected by the citizens with the support of Whistleblower Foundation, a whistleblower supporting civil organization.

They were selected through an online voting by citizens on ACRC’s people’s idea box (idea. epeope.go.kr), a communication channel with the public from November 19 to 27.

ACRC, in recognition and honoring of the great contributions made by the whistleblowers to the society, declares the December 5th as Whistleblower Day

The selected 10 whistleblowers included those who reported cases of stopping inspection of real estate speculation by jae-bol affiliates due to superior’s order, and media control guidance by the Chun Doo-whan administration.

Other selected whistleblowers were those who blowed a whistle on slush funds and defective auto parts, which are rarely uncovered without an insider’s reporting, thereby contributing to a transparent business environment, a whistleblower who disclosed problems in the military, which is quite difficult to disclosed due to the nature of the organization, and a whistlblower who reported sexual violence, triggering MeToo movement* in Korea.

* A social movement where victims of sexual violences disclose their experiences of such violence through Social Networking Services(SNS)

Pak Un Joung, Chairperson of ACRC said,”Whistleblowers shed a light on issues hidden in our society ranging from grand corruption to day to day corruption issues. She added, “I hope that whistleblowers’ contribution could be better recognized throughout the society, ing more people to come forward without hesitation”

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