Seoul Promises Stronger Anti-Corruption System
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea will beef up its system to prevent corruption through close cooperation with other countries and the United Nations, the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission said Wednesday.
ACRC Chairman Lee Jae-oh made the remarks in the third session of the Conference of State Parties to the U.N. Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) held in Doha, Qatar.
``Korea is faithfully implementing the convention as a state party. We wrote a self-assessment checklist to be in line with the secretariat's effort to gather and analyze information related to the convention,'' he said.
As the leading anti-corruption agency in Korea, he promised that the commission will continue to improve anti-corruption systems by referring to best practices of other countries.
The ACRC was launched in February last year in line with the inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak administration.
It has spearheaded a transparency campaign not only in Korea but also in the wider Asian region. It signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its Indonesian counterpart in December 2006 to share anti-corruption experience.
Lee also introduced its initiative to spread the anti-corruption spirit.
``After signing an MOU with the U.N. Development Program, the ACRC helped Bhutan and Bangladesh to adopt and strengthen their anti-corruption systems in 2007 and 2008.''
He underlined local efforts to join the anti-corruption movement of the international community, referring to the parliamentary approval of the related act last year.
``Korea remains committed to enhancing technical assistance to fight corruption,'' he said.
The chairman noted the nation has the basic legal and administrative framework to implement the mandatory provisions and measures that member countries must consider applying.
He returned home on Wednesday.