Expectations for anti-graft law
By Kwon Bong-woon
The nation’s deeply rooted business entertaining culture is expected to go through a major change with the enforcement of a new law — the so-called Kim Young-ran Act or anti-graft law.
In a recent Gallup poll, 71 percent of the public welcomed the Kim Young-ran Act, and only 15 percent held a negative view of it. As for reasons for supporting it, 31 percent believed that the law will eradicate corrupt and irregular acts, while others said it would help raise transparency, reduce illicit favors and change the bureaucratic society. Regarding concerns that the new law will negatively affect economy, 23 percent agreed while 45 percent did not. The law must be properly implemented in order to achieve its purpose of rooting out corruption and irregularity in our society.
I heartily welcome the long-awaited anti-graft law, which would create a new culture in which people do not seek favors illicitly. Its success depends on whether we can readily part from past negative behaviors and create a new society that elevates fairness and integrity.
Some side effects of the law are inevitable, but they cannot and should not justify attempts by some counterforce to annul it. I will see much confusion at the early stages of the enforcement, and there will be trials and errors. However, the high standards of binding regulation must be imposed on society, which has long suffered the widespread disease of corruption. I just want to see it settled and enforced properly. Expectations are high that the law would help eradicate closed-door ties among public officials and businesspeople, and also spread the virtue of establishing equal relationships by splitting checks. However, concerns linger over its impact on domestic consumption, particularly in the entertainment, food and retail sector.
The law sets upper limits for food, gifts and congratulatory or condolence money that public officials and certain private sector individuals can receive. Many have expressed concerns that domestic consumption may shrink, and, according to latest reports, the nation’s agriculture and fisheries industries may likely lose 900 million won in sales per year, as the law prohibits receiving gifts that cost more than 50,000 won.
Building business relationships through expensive dinners and rounds of golf have been standard practice in South Korea’s corporate world for years. Isn’t there any other way to resolve this? The law itself is a very good step toward making society more ethical, but has so many ambiguous articles and leaves much room for improvement.
JP Morgan said in a recent report that Korea’s growth rate is likely to slow down in the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year due to the anti-graft law. Despite that, I expect that it will be a good chance to overcome our society’s perennial culture of improper solicitation.
We could not build an incorruptible nation unless ability, integrity and transparency take precedence over connections and favoritism. I heartily hope that the Kim Young-ran Act will surely turn Korean society into one with integrity and fairness.
The writer lives in Dongjak-gu in Seoul. Reach him at kbw8234664@naver.com.