The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday that it has fired a total of 65 corruption-ridden employees over the past three years, accelerating its drive to root out illegal activities, including bribery and embezzlement, among civil servants.
The dismissals have been carried out under the city's new disciplinary policy introduced in February 2009, to root out corruption among city employees.
The measure called "One Strike Out" allows the city to instantly fire employees who embezzle city funds or those who take bribes worth more than 1 million won (US$867.5), without giving them a second chance to redeem themselves.
In the year the measure was adopted, the city fired 28 employees and another 24 workers the next year, the city said. So far in 2011, 13 employees were removed from their posts under the anti-corruption measure, it noted.
Among those fired was one employee who took as much as 63 million won in bribes, it added.
The city government recovered a combined 84.2 million won in fines imposed on six city employees who took bribes, under a different law governing corruption among public workers, it added.
"We will consistently push ahead with One Strike Out and the fine system in order to root out embezzlement, bribe giving or taking," a city official said. "We will step up our scrutiny as new Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon highlights public workers' cleanliness more." (Yonhap)