By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) said it will introduce a ``one strike and out'' rule to dismiss civil servants found guilty of taking bribes or embezzlement.
Among other wrongdoings subject to harsher punishment are influence peddling and dereliction of duty.
The local government will impose arbitrary fines two to five times the amount of money involved on all public officials involved in embezzlement or bribery. Dismissed staff members will be restricted from re-entering the city government or any other public firms invested in by the city.
SMG plans to propose an amendment to laws to forbid corrupt public servants from working at private enterprises with more than one billion won ($740,000) of capital and yearly sales of three billion won.
Those who report the malpractice of civil servants will receive a reward of up to two billion won, up from 50 million won. There will be hotlines for whistle-blowers directly connected to inspectors.
``Seoul will eradicate all corruption and raise the level of its overall administrative services with this measure,'' a city official said.