The Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) voiced Korea's firm support for the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) at the 5th Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention that took place in Panama City.

In his keynote speech on Monday, ACRC Chairman Lee Sungbo introduced the Korean government's diverse initiatives to fully implement the Convention, including the legislation of the bill on Prevention of Illegal Solicitation and Conflict of Interest, which is currently under review at the National Assembly. Chairman Lee elaborated that "the bill is aimed at prohibiting illegal solicitation which impedes fair performance of public duties as well as punishing public officials for receiving money or valuables regardless of duty-relatedness or any favor in return." He added that the bill would provide a comprehensive framework for preventing conflict of interest that may arise when public officials conduct their duties.

The ACRC Chairman also presented the progress in implementing the Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers and the ACRC's recent move to amend the Act to expand protection for whistleblowers. The whistleblower act entered into force in September 2011 to protect and provide rewards for those who report violations of 180 laws related to the health and safety of the public, the environment, consumer interests and fair competition.

Furthermore, he shared Korea's ongoing efforts to implement the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan, signing of the MOU with the International Anti-Corruption Academy in March 2012, and introduction of Korea's Integrity Assessment, which is Korea's representative anti-corruption tool designed to measure the levels of corruption in public organizations, to Indonesia, Bhutan, Mongolia and Thailand.

During the conference held from the 25th to the 29th, Chairman Lee presented Korea's various measures to prevent corruption at a session dedicated to sharing the best practices in the prevention of corruption. In his presentation on Tuesday, he introduced the Anti-Corruption Training Institute that opened in November 2012 to provide specialized, intensive anti-corruption training, as well as the Anti-Corruption Coaching Program, which is tailored to the needs of university students who intend to develop and utilize anti-corruption learning materials for the youth. Mr. Lee also shared with the participants the outcome of the annual ACRC Training Course for International Anti-Corruption Practitioners that was launched last June to help build anti-corruption capacity of the officials of anti-corruption agencies all over the world.

The ACRC Chairman expected that his attendance at the conference would serve to promote the Korean government's will and efforts to implement the UNCAC and play a more active role in the global fight against corruption.