Administrative Environment with No Improper Solicitations and Graft to Be Established through Reinforced Policy Communications with Public Agencies

January 22, 2019

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong) has reinforced policy communications with public agencies in order to successfully establish the Improper Solicitations and Graft Act (hereinafter referred to as the Anti-Graft Act), which heads into its third year, in the administrative field.

In the meantime, the ACRC has been implementing the Anti-Graft Act in a way that permeates naturally into the field of public administration and the daily lives of the people, while running workshops and meetings, etc. for officials in charge of preventing improper solicitations so as to lead public officials to be more serious about violations of the law and make public agencies more strictly respond thereto.

This year, in an attempt to enhance the substantiality of efforts made by the ACRC, it plans to meet with public institutions on a more regular basis to take stock of the current situation surrounding the anti-graft system and discuss where it should be headed for in the years ahead, while increasing the capacity of local councils and the media sector, which require even more cooperation, for operating the anti-graft system and boosting communications by visiting every corner of the nation, etc.

As a first step in making such efforts, on January 23, the ACRC held a meeting with more than 90 supervisory agencies among public agencies subject to the Anti-Graft Act, 226 lower-level local governments that are closely related with the lives of the people, and 338 public agencies, etc. being present.

During the meeting, the ACRC informed the attendees of what is central to operating the anti-graft system and agreed with all participants on co-creating transparent culture where there is no improper solicitations and graft.

< Major Direction of the Anti-Graft System for 2019 >

In addition, the ACRC encouraged public agencies to handle reports properly, providing examples of improper or tepid processing of reports on violations of the Anti-Graft Act that have taken place in the past few years. And it also called for cooperation in conducting half yearly fact-finding inspection of the operational status of the anti-graft system.

Furthermore, the ACRC distributed a manual of the Anti-Graft Act that has reflected a newly supplemented standard for the interpretation of the Act in respect of the provision of financial assistance in public institutions’ overseas business travels so that the participants of the meeting can refer to the manual in practice and also had discussions with officials responsible for the prevention of improper solicitations and those serving frontline services regarding the ways for safe and sound landing of the Act and some suggestions, etc.

Beginning with this meeting, the ACRC will increase opportunities for communications with more agencies by continuously holding workshops and meetings targeting public agencies on nine occasions in total until September this year.

Although the workshops and meetings are mainly targeting officials in administrative and public agencies who are in charge of the matters related to the prevention of improper solicitations and practitioners who deliver frontline public services, the ACRC will allow any public official who is interested to take part in them, thereby widely spreading consensus among public officials about effective implementation of the Anti-Graft Act.

Public officials participating in the workshops and meetings will be educated on the Anti-Graft Act and reporter protection and compensation that should be considered when implementing the anti-graft system. And focusing on the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, judicial precedents, frequently asked questions, and time- and subject-variant things to be noted, etc. will be communicated to participants in alignment with different types and characteristics of public agencies subject to the Act, including administrative agencies, local councils, educational institutions and media companies.

Moreover, given that public agencies required to comply with the Act are widely dispersed across the nation, the ACRC will hold workshops and meetings by regions to boost field communications by supporting agencies willing to implement the Anti-Graft Act in an active manner as well as expanding regional integrity clusters and proactive educational programs provided upon requests from individual institutions.

Director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau at the ACRC said “workshops and meetings held every year since the implementation of the Anti-Graft Act have helped public agencies have better understanding about the Act and enhance their responsibility for the implementation thereof,” adding that “the ACRC will continue to expand policy communications with public officials who are pioneers of changes in the frontlines in order to secure a driving force behind the development of the anti-graft system to contain practices of improper solicitations.”