Some Officials Set to be Sanctioned for Breach of Political Neutrality

Fears of inspection and sanction are likely to grip the public officials’ community.

The government will reportedly start large-scale sanctions against some officials in a move to revamp the official discipline of public servants which it believed has been breached as a result of the Roh impeachment and the April elections.

“Since the elections ended, all parts of the government need a new resolution to start anew,” a government inspector said, stressing the need for high-level inspections. “In this context, the public officials’ community needs intensive inspections.”

“A special probe by a joint team led by the prime minister ahead of the elections was a preemptive measure, not a real inspection,” he added.

In connection with this move, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs will investigate and sanction civil servants who breached political neutrality during the elections.

“It is now disclosed that there were a number of breaches, including a local government employee in Chungcheong passing information on voters to a candidates,” a ministry official said.

“After the elections, when the people are preparing for a new start, I will successfully implement measures against corruptions and abuses of authority among public servants,” President Roh said in an interview on February 20 with the KBS to mark the first anniversary of his inauguration as president. This suggests that the probes will be very intense.

What is more, the prosecution has said it will launch anti-corruption investigations into the public servants’ community after the elections.

“The number of government officials allegedly involved in the Daewoo Construction Co. scandal we know of is considerably large,” a senior official of the prosecution said. “We will investigate them after we reach the final stage of investigation into the politicians.”

Meanwhile, the massive investigations by the prosecution are raising concern of biased probes among elected officials.

“Concerns are widespread but unsubstantiated concerns among the elected officials of the opposition party that the government’s and the prosecution’s probes will concentrate on opposition-controlled local government units,” a local government leader said. “I will make sure that all of my staff will be more cautious.”

Hyun-Doo Lee ruchi@donga.com