Moon vows to restore justice, fight corruption

President Moon Jae-in talks about his plan for the next five years at Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

President Moon Jae-in promised to restore justice and fight corruption, saying “change has already begun.”

Setting up a comprehensive anti-corruption body and reforming the prosecution system are among the highlights in the government’s five-year plan, which was revealed Wednesday.

“I will eradicate corruption and unfairness to make the nation work for everyone,” he said.

According to the plan, which has 100 specific objectives, Cheong Wa Dae will cooperate with the Ministry of Justice to create an independent, comprehensive anti-corruption body next year.

The presidential office will also push ahead with making stronger laws on corruption of government officials.

Moon hopes to raise Korea’s ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index into the world’s top 20 from 52nd in 2016 in the next five years.

As part of the effort, Moon reckons a sweeping reform of the prosecution is necessary. He promised mainly two things _ removing most of its investigative powers and establishing an independent body empowered to investigate and indict all top-ranking government officials. The plan calls for the former to be accomplished by the end of this year and the latter by next year.

Moon will also set up a human rights evaluation system to prevent police from abusing their extended investigative powers.

Another key plan is to create a better environment for couples to have and raise children.

To combat the issue of the country’s alarmingly low birthrate, which is hovering below 1.2, his administration will offer more public apartments to newly married couples who cannot afford a place to start a family.

Moon also plans to extend national health insurance coverage for couples who have fertility issues.

More public childcare centers will be set up for many parents who demand safer and more affordable institutions. High school education will become free for all by 2022 and university tuition fees will also be reduced substantially for students.

When they graduate, there will be more jobs in the public sector. The Moon government plans to create 810,000 jobs by 2022. More police officers, firefighters and social workers will be hired in the coming years.

Moon, who has promoted himself as an environment-friendly leader, will get serious about replacing dirty, risky energy sources with clean, safer ones.

All coal power plants aged 30 years or older, which many blame for the fine dust problem here, will be shut down within his term. In addition, more fine dust detectors will be set up across the country to help people check the level of hazardous particles in the air.

The government will make efforts to take diesel cars off the roads through incentive policies and regulations, promoting the use of more eco-friendly cars.

Meanwhile, nuclear power plants will be phased out, with the government planning to close old ones and disapprove plans for new ones. Previously, Moon said he believes Korea should be nuclear power-free for the next 40 years.

Over concerns his energy policy may lead to hikes in electric bills for households, the government will consider changing the current fee system for electricity, which charges more for residential use than for industrial use.