South Korean prosecutors announced to indicted ex-President Lee Myung-bak on bribery charges, Seoul, April 9, 2018 (Photo: VCG)
Seoul (People’s Daily) – The South Korean government on Wednesday published a set of anti-corruption measures for the next five years.
The country’s top anti-graft body, Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), presented the five-year plan during a meeting hosted by President Moon Jae-in.
Corruption has been a headache for South Korea for many years. Many senior government officials and politicians have been exposed to have been involved in corruption, including several former presidents. Moon has made fighting corruption a top priority of his administration.
According to the 2017 Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International, South Korea ranked 51st out of 80 countries, Yonhap news reported.
Through the newly unveiled measures, South Korea is expected to raise the country's anti-corruption ranking to the top 50 this year, the top 40 nations in 2019-2020, and the top 30 nations in 2021-2022.
ACRC said it will establish an investigative agency to exclusively handle corruption cases involving senior officials and politicians; tighten criteria for major corruption crimes, such as bribery, embezzlement and breach of trust; develop an integrity index assessing corruption levels in civilian industries.
Moon also called for efforts to eradicate corruption in the private sector and pledged to eliminate corruption in the public sector.
