The 6th Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council Meeting for Fair Society was held

- Measures to root out crimes that impinge upon the public livelihood and unfair online transactions, etc. were discussed at the meeting of the Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council, which aims to build a fair society. -

- President called on lawmakers to cooperate in the government’s preparations to launch a special agency next month, tasked with investigating corruption among high-ranking government officials. -

- “Anti-corruption effort is all the more important in the second half of the administration.” -

June 22, 2020

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

President Moon Jae-in chaired the sixth Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council Meeting for Fair Society today.

Since the launch of the administration, it has put its all-out efforts into eradicating such corruption and irregularities ingrained in people’s daily lives as hiring irregularities, abuse of power, private school corruption, and tax evasion, and other various kinds of cheating and privileges, as well as reforming state agencies of power including the prosecution. As a result of these efforts, Korea saw tangible improvements in the Corruption Perceptions Index published by the Transparency International last year, marking record-high ranking and score.

With regard to this, President Moon said, “It is very fortunate that our anti-corruption endeavors are being acknowledged internationally,” adding that “Anti-corruption effort is all the more important in the latter half of the administration so we must persevere in pushing anti-corruption drive to the end to complete the fair society people desire.”

The meeting discussed various anti-corruption policies and measures for fair society that are urgently called for to overcome the national crisis caused by the novel corona virus disease (COVID-19), including strong responses to heinous, anti-social crimes that hinder the recovery of the public livelihood.

The president said that measures to tackle ‘crimes that impinge upon people’s livelihoods,’ such as illegal private loaning, voice phishing, cyber gambling and fraud, and unfair online transactions amid a rise in non-contact purchases in the ‘digital economy’ are “very timely agenda” and called on officials to take stern measures at an early stage against such crimes.

In addition, with respect to the launch of the task force by the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution to probe human rights, the president said “As law-enforcement agencies have taken measures to reform themselves as the principal actors, I hope they will collaborate with one another in devising bold reform measures in line with their resolve to make this the first year for investigations that protect human rights so that people can tangibly feel the changes.”

In particular, President Moon said, “I call for full-scale efforts in follow-up measures regarding a set of bills passed by the National Assembly for the creation of the exclusive agency and granting more investigative rights to the police and request the National Assembly to cooperate in launching the agency next month as stipulated in the law.”

Lastly, he also repeatedly stressed that “Anti-corruption reform is a task that must be ceaselessly pushed to enhance transparency, fairness and unity in our society, so I hope the Anti-Corruption Policy Consultative Council for Fair Society do all that it can until the end of my administration.”