ACRC Asked for Completion of Reform against Corruption and for Justice to Advance Korea to Be Among Top 20 in CPI Next Year

- ACRC Chairperson hosted a Conference to Deliver the Implementation Guidance for Anti-Corruption and Integrity Policies on Feb 2 -

(2 February 2021, ACRC)

The ACRC Chairperson asked inspectors of central administrative agencies at all levels to accomplish the reform against corruption by tightening the discipline in the public service and behavioral standards to the level of what the people might expect, and by proactively responding to all corruption issues.

On the second of this month, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission convened inspectors from 44 central administrative bodies to deliver the Implementation Guidance for Anti-Corruption and Integrity Policies. The purpose of the conference was to strengthen the agencies' voluntary efforts toward reform against corruption and for justice as the policy environment is changing along with Korea's continued progress in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the emergence of COVID-19, among others.

The meeting was held virtually where participants joined from on-site conference rooms in Sejong, Seoul and Daejeon Government Complexes to comply with the government's COVID-19 infection prevention guidelines.

In 2020 CPI that was released on the 28th of the last month, South Korea earned a record high score of 61, which was 2 higher scores from the previous year and the first time the nation broke the 60s mark. Korea also ranked 33rd among countries, up 6 places from the year before.

The performances in the Integrity Assessment for public institutions that the ACRC conducts every year have been improving for the past four consecutive years while the percentage of citizens experiencing corruption related to money, gifts, entertainment or convenience lowering during the same period. The Commission developed 2021 Implementation Guidance for Anti-Corruption and Integrity Policies after reflecting these internal and external changes in the environment, and including plans for Korea to emerge as a leading nation in transparency by becoming one of the top 20 in the CPI by 2022.

Chairperson has been focusing on tightening behavioral standards and discipline in the public service to enable public officials to perform duties in a just manner; timely responding to corruption issues; and raising integrity awareness through sustained integrity education efforts since taking office in June last year.

To that end, the participants in the meeting presented and discussed a wide range of implementation tasks to produce outcomes that are visible to the people through four strategies, including ① to accomplish the reform for anti-corruption and justice, ② to timely respond to all corruption issues, ③ to focus capabilities on raising integrity awareness, and ④ to provide proactive, preemptive and strong whistleblower protection; and to advance Korea's national integrity level so that the country can lead the world as one of the top 20 in 2022 CPI.

First, the ACRC will strengthen the behavioral standards of public officials in order to meet the expectations of the people by completing anti-corruption institutions. The Commission plans to push hard forward with the legislation of a conflict of interest law for public officials within the year, which lays out eight behavioral standards designed to effectively manage conflicts of interest that all public officials might encounter while performing duties, and to control the pursuit of personal gains. It also aims at incorporating the reception of an academic degree and employment of a trainee into the list of activities subject to the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act in an effort to work on the areas that the existing anti-corruption institutions have failed to address.

Furthermore, the ACRC is going to substantially enhance the response system against the corruption issues that the public demonstrates keen interest. It plans to investigate violations of the Codes of Conduct and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act to identify any cases of public officials inappropriately seeking personal interest and privileges enjoyed by public officials before developing improvement plans, and to solve the corruption issues together with the public agencies at all levels through the on-site integrity consulting program. The Commission also will not fail to check on corruption-prone areas by forming a government-wide investigative body to conduct close investigation of vulnerabilities in false claims of public funds, and by carrying out an extensive review of employment in the public institutions in 2020 as well as their own regulations.

Integrity education is going to be considerably strengthened to raise the integrity awareness among public officials and future generations. The ACRC plans to push ahead with the revision of the ACRC Act in an effort to build the capacity to implement mandatory training of elected public office holders, such as members of the National Assembly, and senior officials. Meanwhile, it will encourage all the educational institutions for the public sector (112 in total) to include integrity education in their curriculum in an effort to promote voluntary integrity training efforts. In order to foster the awareness among future generations, the Commission is going to develop plans to expand integrity education in the primary and secondary education courses, and discuss the plans with the concerned bodies of the government.

Last, the ACRC will promote corruption and public interest reporting and further enhance the protection of whistleblowers. The Commission plans to ease the requirement for suspending disadvantageous measures against corruption whistleblowers, and to work toward introducing institutions for public interest reporting while preparing for the basis to allow the ACRC to ask related articles to be removed if a whistleblower's identity is revealed and reported without the person's consent. When a tentative protection measure is required or urgent personal security measure is requested, active protection efforts, including the designation of an investigator who is specialized in preventive protection, will be available.

An ACRC Official said, "now is the time for those in the public office to demonstrate a promising future where we defeat COVID-19. It requires, more than anything else, to considerably increase the national integrity level and credit rating by completing the reform against corruption and for justice, and to realize a fair society and transparent nation that citizens dream of."