10 most important moments for ACRC in three years of Moon Jae-in Administration

- ACRC for the past three years ▴building a foundation for anti-corruption policy implementation ▴ending public institution hiring irregularities ▴Korea ranked the top 30s in CPI -

- Swift resolution of COVID-19 related grievances of working class people and the underprivileged; Anti-corruption reform including the enactment of Act on Conflict of Interest Prevention for Public Officials-

May 13, 2020

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), in celebration of the three year anniversary of the Moon Jai-in government, has announced its 10 most important moments of ‘Anti-corruption and Fairness Reform and Protection of People’s Rights and Interests’

For the past three years, together with citizens, the ACRC has made achievements in the following 10 most important moments in anti-corruption/ fairness reform and civil rights protection:

1. Holding the first session of Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council (26 Sep, 2017)

Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council chaired by the President of the Republic of Korea was resumed to serve as a control tower to realize anti-corruption reform.

2. Launch of Everyday Life Irregularity Council (10 Dec, 2018)

‘Everyday Life Irregularity Council’ was launched in response to the call from citizens to remove irregularities and unfairness in daily lives, going beyond handling traditional corruption such as political corruption.

3. Publishing the result of inspection on public institution hiring irregularity and announcing countermeasures against the issue (20 Feb, 2019)

As a result of the inspection on public institutions for hiring irregularities for two years (2017~2018), 519 cases of hiring irregularities were detected. People engaged in the cases faced severe punishments, while the victims of the irregularities which amounted to 3,284 got an opportunity to re-apply for recruitment. The result of inspection 2019 will be announced in June this year.

4. Enactment of Act on Prohibition of False Claims for Public Funds and Recovery of Illicit Profits (16 Apr, 2019)

On January 2020, Public Funds Recovery Act took effect to recover the full amount of the illicit profits claimed for public funds amounting to 229 trillion won which includes subsidies, compensations and contributions of various kinds.

5. Announcement of Corruption Perception Index 2019 (23 Jan, 2020)

For the three consecutive years since the launch of the Moon Jae-in administration, Korea’s CPI ranking has risen to become the top 30s.

The Transparency International (TI) ranked Korea 39th out of the 180 countries in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2019, giving a score of 59 out of the perfect score of 100 which is a record number.

European Research Center for Anti-corruption and State-Building (ERCAS), ranked Korea the 19th place on the list of 117 countries assessed and the first among Asian countries in its 2019 Index of Public Integrity (IPI). This indicates that Korea’s anti-corruption efforts both by the government and in the private sector have been well acknowledged in the international community.

6. Expanding laws applicable to Public Interest Reporter Protection Act (29 Apr. 2020)

Under the amended Public Interest Reporter Protection Act, from November 2020, anyone will be able to report a violation of 180 Acts closely related to daily lives which include Act on the Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, Act on the Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons, Military Service Act, and Act on Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Employment and Elderly Employment Promotion.

7. Onsite Mediation on collective complaints such as on marine transport in Biyando island, Gunsan (18 Dec. 2018)

For the past three years, the ACRC has aggressively resolved the civil complaints of 7,200 cases filed against unlawful, unreasonable or passive dispositions. Especially, the ACRC concentrated its capacities on collective complaints which involved conflicts between the public and private sector and conflicts among private entities, making it difficult to be resolved.

By successfully mediating 182 such collective complaints, the ACRC resolved long-lasting problems for 85,900 people. As a result, for example, maritime transportation has re-operated in 17 years for residents of Biyando island in Gunsan city, where because there was no regular ferry service after Saemangeum Seawall Construction, residents lost their lives.

8. Introduction of State-appointed Attorney System for Administrative Appeal (1 Nov. 2018)

Since the adoption of the State-appointed Attorney system in November 2018, the ACRC has provided 160 free attorney services to the financially underprivileged, such as recipients of national basic subsidies and single parent families, who often find it difficult to file administrative appeals.

9. Launch of Complaint Big Data at a Glance (30 Jan, 2019)

Each year, more than 1,000 complaints are lodged on citizen communication channels such as e-People. Using Complaint Big Data at a Glance launched in the early 2019 enables, citizens can check the complaint-handling status and utilize complaint analysis result and other related materials.

10. Opening of Government Complaints Counseling Center (1 Oct, 2019)

Government Complaints Counseling Center was opened in October 2019, serving as a foundation for seamless counseling on complaints involving multiple authorities in a professional and comprehensive way.

Going forward, the ACRC will exert its efforts to push forward with the following policies. It will submit the bill for Act on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest for Public Officials to impose stronger integrity and fairness standards for public officials in order to meet the expectation of citizens. The ACRC will also discover unfairness tasks and risks for people in their 20s and 30s and in daily lives such as unfairness school admission and hiring procedure and discrimination against irregular workers.

In addition, to prevent working class citizens or the underprivileged from slipping through the social safety net at a time of this economic downturn due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the ACRC will ly handle urgent complaints asking for reduction and adjustment of health insurance payment and health care payment support.

Pak Un Jong, Chairperson of the ACRC said, “Suffering the COVID-19 crisis, citizens are now demanding a stronger transparency and civil rights protection to the government than ever before.” She added, “The ACRC will concentrate its efforts on anti-corruption and fairness reform to which citizens can relate in their daily lives, and will strive to resolve difficulties of citizens and small business owners due to the COVID-19.”