PMs, Presidents, bring own utensils

By Oh Young-jin

Be warned, prime ministers and presidents who are heading for Korea after Sept. 28!

You may have to bring your own utensils or get your checkbooks ready for the food you eat during a state dinner at Cheong Wa Dae. Please check the prices of the gifts you exchange with the Korean President. If they are in violation of the new anti-corruption law, it could spell big trouble.

The September date is when the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act takes effect.

Also called the Kim Young-ran law, named for the former head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the state agency stipulates that public servants, teachers and journalists may not receive and give meals worth more than 20,000 won, gifts worth over 30,000 won and cash payments at weddings and funerals over 100,000 won. For 1 million won at one time or an aggregate of 3 million won over a year, the receiver will face three years behind bars or a maximum fine of 30 million won.

To save foreign heads of state or governments vexing sleepless nights, the commission is now studying how to formulate detailed case-by-case applications, with the goal of unveiling them by the end of this month or early next.

Its spokesman made clear that the law would apply to Cheong Wa Dae and to foreigners in the country. “We are going over these instances,” the spokesman told The Korea Times.

VIPs, or those preparing to visit Korea, are fully aware of the new law because the violations may carry fines two to three times the amount at stake.

The fines, carrying the stigma of corruption, should be the last thing that presidents and prime ministers want.

First, here is what we know about a Cheong Wa Dae dinner for visiting foreign dignitaries.

Often, the hosting Korean President gives the visiting VIP and his or her retinue a lunch or dinner. Let’s estimate how much the presidential lunch or dinner amounts to for the president’s guests, just in case they have to pay for what they have.

The dinners are full-course affairs, starting with appetizers through to the main course and dessert, be it Korean, Chinese or Western. The dinners consist of delicacies. The level of the presidential fare is illustrated by the lunch President Park Geun-hye hosted for Lee Jung-hyun, her former spokesman, celebrating his election as chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party. It featured a menu of truffles, caviar, rare fish, top-rated hanwoo beef and lobster. The presidential office was careful to explain that just enough of the truffles were served to give the meal flavor. This was extreme, considering Lee’s predecessor was treated to a “mundane” Chinese luncheon. In other words, what the guests are served at Cheong Wa Dae differs.

Adding to the tab are top-rated golden utensils -- fine porcelain plates, bowls, chopsticks and the whole nine yards -- besides the service of an army of attendants and special performances.

On top of that, the venue should be factored in because the banquet is often hosted at a reception hall or backyard lawn for a large delegation, or a separate “hanok” for a more intimate get-together.

Also, multiply these by the number in the delegation and the tab could be very high.

Now, charging visiting VIPs for a dinner or luncheon sounds preposterous but it is the job of the anti-corruption commission to provide the legal grounds for these special occasions to be excused from the spearhead of the anti-corruption law.

First of all, the President is a public servant and can be subject to the same law as bureaucrats and lawmakers and may be treated in the same way. The commission, though, may endow Cheong Wa Dae with a special status that puts it out of the remit of the law.

An interesting part is that the 3.5/10 law is designed to prevent a bureaucrat or reporter from being influenced by businesspeople or others. Then, would the President’s “hobnobbing” with foreign dignitaries fall under such an influence-buying category?

Whatever excuse the commission may come up with for the exemption, the chance is that it might weaken the spirit of the law, some would say. But then, others would back the exemption because it is an official affair that promotes international friendship and national interest. Even if the visiting VIPs are charged for the food they are served at Cheong Wa Dae, they shouldn’t get mad. They are doing their part in making this society free from corruption.

Footnote: As I briefly mentioned in this satirist column, the chance that visiting presidential guests have to pay for their food at Cheong Wa Dae is unlikely. This is a precautionary tale aimed at showing the scale of domestic chaos that the implementation of the anti-corruption law may create. Personally, I think that the Kim Young-ran law is needed and hope it changes our way of life for the better.

Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times’ chief editorial writer. Contact him at foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com.