Excessiveness of anti-corruption act

The South Korean Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission made a pre-announcement of the enforcement ordinances of the Anti-Corruption Act on Monday. With the enforcement of the new law, public servants, school faculty, journalists and media personnel will be subject to fines if treated a meal costing more than 30,000 won (25.66 U.S. dollars) from a work-related counterpart, or received gifts of more than 50,000 won (42.77 dollars) in value or gift money of more than 100,000 won (85.54 dollars) for family events.

President Park recently promised to set the cap at a reasonable level in concern for economic damages the legislation may cause, but the amount is lower than expected. The agricultural industry foresees that their industry would be hit hard, given the prices of regular gift packages for traditional holidays. The floriculture industry, often benefited by Korea’s gift-giving customs at family events, is also anxious. It is worrisome that the law may aggravate the already sluggish domestic demands.

A constitutional appeal was filed against the so-called Kim Young-ran Act for including non-public figures such as private school teachers and journalists as subjects during the legislation process. The articles of the law argue that journalists play “a public role” in society, but the definition of the public role seems unclear. If the constitutional court rules against the law, journalists and private school faculty, later included by lawmakers, may be set free. But issues still remain regarding the legislation. For example, the wife of a public figure may be involved in criminal offense after unknowingly being treated a meal by a friend who is also an acquaintance of her husband, a public figure.

The committee plans to complete the final draft of the ordinance before the scheduled enforcement date of September 28 after receiving diverse opinions. There is a chance that the caps for gift exchanges are adjusted upwards in consideration of different opinions. The excessiveness of the Act, however, could never be waivered with a mere adjustment of numbers.

President Park has been strongly urging the passage of the law as a way to root out illegal customs of public-private linkage since the Sewol ferry accident. But more lately, the president has mentioned that there may be a room for review at the National Assembly, in concerns that it may discourage economic activities. In fact, lawmakers have already left the back door open for themselves during the process. Excessive elements of the new Act should be removed to make the good intentions root down in society.