A Study on the Legislative System of the Anti-Corruption Act
Authors:   Korea Anti-Corruption Law Association, Kim Nam Wook 
Published: May 2024

The Criminal Law, the Unfair Solicitation Prohibition Act, the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, the Public Officials Ethics Act, and the Public Officials Report Protection Act have been enacted and implemented in Korea to eradicate corruption according to the type of corruption, the degree of corruption, and the change of the times. After the enactment of the Unfair Solicitation Prohibition Act and the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, Korea ranked 31st in 2022. Since the Public Officials Ethics Act contains a number of contents to be regulated in the Conflict of Interest Act, it is necessary to regulate it in the Conflict of Interest Act, but it is necessary to reasonably improve the Public Officials Ethics Act. In addition, although it was originally intended to enact the Unfair Solicitation and Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, the anti-corruption system is operated under the division of law, so the efficiency and effectiveness of corruption prevention need to be reorganized into an integrated law. On December 4, 1998, and December 2, 1999, the Framework Act on Anti-Corruption was proposed to the National Assembly twice to prevent and eliminate fundamental corruption, but the Framework Act on the Prevention of Corruption was withdrawn or automatically discarded due to the expiration of the National Assembly due to differences in positions between the ruling and opposition lawmakers. In 2001, the Corruption Prevention Act, a general corporation of the Public Officials Act, was enacted to establish a clean social climate by efficiently regulating corruption prevention and corruption activities.
After examining the main contents of Korea's anti-corruption legislation, including the Constitution, and related anti-corruption laws, it is necessary to consider the implications of the anti-corruption legal system by referring to legislative examples in the UK, the US, and France. Korea's anti-corruption system under the Corruption Prevention Act is centered around public organizations and public officials, but it does not regulate corruption prevention and corrupt practices for companies, making it impossible to break the chain of corruption.
There is a need to strengthen democracy, the rule of law and national competitiveness by enacting the Basic Anti-Corruption Act and introducing an anti-corruption system not only for public officials but also for companies above a certain size (mid-sized companies and large corporations).
Therefore, the relationship with other laws, the anti-corruption responsibilities of the state, local governments, public organizations, companies, and citizens, basic anti-corruption principles, anti-corruption policies, comprehensive anti-corruption plan and implementation plan, corruption risk assessment system, and civil rights. It would be desirable to regulate the committee's compulsory investigation rights, city/provincial anti-corruption committees, public organization anti-corruption committees, establishment of anti-corruption offices, internal audits and public audit request systems, and penalties, etc., in the Framework Act on Corruption Prevention.