The number of civil servants disciplined for taking bribes has soared by more than five-fold over the past five years, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said Sunday.
Government officials dismissed or reprimanded for accepting bribes totaled 624 in 2010, 5.5 times more than the 114 in 2006. Of the 624, 419 were employed at central government agencies, with the remaining 205 working for municipal administrations.
Besides accepting kickbacks, thousands more civil servants were disciplined for embezzlement, misappropriation of state funds and other wrongdoings. A total of 5,818 civil servants were punished for a wide range of ethical code violations last year, doubling the 2006 figure.
``The number of government officials disciplined for an array of wrongdoings has jumped over the past few years, due mainly to a clampdown on bureaucratic corruption. Many civil servants were punished for illegally accepting rice subsidies and drunken driving,’’ a ministry official said.
Nearly 20,000 non-farmers, including about 2,500 government and public-sector workers, were found to have illegally received tens of billions of won in rice farming subsidies since the program was introduced in 2005.