“Depriving Corrupt Public Servants of Their Pensions is under Consideration”

Concerning measures to prevent corruption among public servants, President Roh Moo-hyun ordered on Thursday a review of possibly “depriving corrupt public servants of their pensions when they are found guilty of any irrationality while in office, even though they may be already retired.”

President Roh said this at the third Anti-corruption Council held in Cheong Wa Dae that day. He also asked for a review of a reward system for officials who reported being offered bribes when they received them.

However, he held back approval for the “written pledge system of clean fingers” suggested by the Anti-corruption Committee, saying it is not practical and would only hurt the pride of public officers.

“Please make systems that do not allow any room for corruption in all areas and try to thoroughly expose corruption cases so that there will be none that pass undiscovered,” said Roh. “Let’s pull up our rank, currently announced as 40th by the International Transparency Organization, to 20th while the incumbent government is in power.”

The Anti-corruption Committee reported to the president that it would organize a “taskforce for anti-corruption measures” in each administrative agency that has its assistant chief executive as the taskforce’s leader.

The committee said that it would prepare measures to improve systems in five weak areas for irregularities: tax affairs, construction contracts, regulation/supervision, and public enterprises. It also said it would establish a “mid- to long-term road map to prevent corruption.” In particular, it said that it would more strictly operate the system limiting retired officials from working for companies in their related fields.

Yong-Gwan Jung yongari@donga.com