Public Interest Whistleblowers Under Thick Layers of Protection

The ACRC offers diverse, hands-on educational programs on integrity for public officeholders and the general public

Kim Dai-sik, Vice Chairman of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), stresses a shift in awareness and mind-set toward corruption to global standards, departing from deep-rooted precedents in the course of the fast economic growth of the past.
"Public officeholders have been given an extraordinary reception while on official visits according to precedents of the past compact growth era, but they need to change their awareness and attitude to live up to heightened public expectations."
Kim spends three days each week touring places such as communities below the poverty line, conventional marketplaces and four river restoration sites or giving lectures on integrity to public officeholders.
"I have toured and given lectures in person to about 4,200 officials of 20 public organizations, including the Ministry of Justice, the Korea Coast Guard and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, on the theme 'Fair Society and Integrity World,'" he said. The ACRC vice chairman is touted as a messenger crusading for anti-corruption and integrity.
"The ACRC is putting forth its fullest efforts to spread an integrity environment among all segments of society. We've been offering systematic, needs-specific educational programs to introduce integrity to the public service sector. In particular, high public officeholders and overseas public service officials are required to undergo educational programs on integrity after taking office," he said.
He will tour Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, each with many Korean expatriates, from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14 to collect their complaints and recommendations. This is part of the ACRC's efforts to expand its coverage of handling civil grievances to overseas Korean expatriates, particularly in Asian countries. Kim said, "People have so far been reluctant to report any acts of infringing on the public interests they know or have given up in fear of possible disadvantages the reporting may bring. But from now on, with the entry into force of the act, public interest whistle-blowers are under thick layers of protection, such as the protection of their confidentiality and safety and the reinstatement of advantages in their careers."
The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and the ACRC vice chairman in which he spoke about the current status of Korea's integrity and institutional steps to fight corruption.
Question: Will you introduce our readers to the ACRC's responsibilities?
Answer: The ACRC was launched on Feb. 29, 2009 as a government agency combining the now-defunct Ombudsman of Korea, Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption and Administrative Appeals Commission.
As our major functions and responsibilities, we are committed to solving public complaints, improving related ineffective administrative systems and nurturing an integrated officialdom and social environment by preventing and detecting corruption. The ACRC is also responsible for protecting the rights of people whose legal rights have been violated or those who experience any form of injustice by government administrative agencies.
As I made public in my inaugural speech when I took office as the vice chairman of the ACRC, I want to play a role in helping people with their grievances and understand what's in their heart and mitigate their suffering one by one.
Currently, a monthly average of 2,300 public complaints have been submitted, so each inspector is charged with handing some 20 cases monthly. People coming from the Seoul metropolitan area to agricultural and fishing districts as well as foreign residents staying in Korea and overseas Korean expatriates have brought their complaints to the ACRC. Among the cases of complaints being submitted most frequently are demands for compensation coming from land development projects and the damage caused by road projects, requests for the installation and repair of road facilities in urban and road sectors as well as investigations into complaints related to law enforcement fields. In particular, demand for arbitration and mutual settlement of matters involving multiple parties are on the rise of late.
Q: What's the ranking of Korea in terms of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in the global community?
A: Korea has seen its integrity assessment by the global community improve from 50th place in 2003 to 39th place in 2010, but the nation's integrity levels are still a far cry from those of advanced countries such as Denmark and Sweden. And the recent revelation of corruption cases has mounted public concern to new heights.
The ACRC is focusing on drafting comprehensive steps to fight corruption and promote integrity. A bill on the prohibiting of public officeholders' graft and the pursuit of their own interests is on the drawing board to prevent the frequent occurrence of widespread bribery practices and deep-rooted graft in public officialdom. A system for registering and managing people who solicit preferential favors and their acts will be in place in the second half of this year.
We plan to expand publicity and educational programs to prevent companies' infringement of public interest in order to take the initiative in promoting integrity in society in connection with the enforcement of the Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers, effective this past September. The ACRC plans to spread excellent practices of ethics management lest the private sector's corruption should be blamed for undermining the nation's integrity levels, while it is going to stage a drive to have candidates of the upcoming presidential election submit a written pledge of integrity in cooperation with civic organizations.
Public officeholders will be required to undergo education programs on anti-corruption and integrity at the time of recruiting, promoting and other periods of their public office careers in order to improve anti-graft and integrity awareness among public officials.
Q: Will you explain your commission's steps to ensure an institutional foundation to fight corruption in Korea?
A: The ACRC is attaching priority on improving public officeholders' integrity during this year, among other things. This year will be the first time to make an integrity evaluation of public officeholders. In February, an evaluation model was developed and supplied to public organizations, which are now conducting an integrity survey on a voluntary basis. We strive to create an environment in which public officeholders evaluated as lacking integrity are not allowed to stay in the public service sector. Approximately 4,900 officials of 129 public organizations are subject to an evaluation of their integrity.
The ACRC's ranking officials, including ACRC Chairperson Lee Young-ran, make the rounds of public organizations to give lectures on senior officials of government agencies and public organizations, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Busan Metropolitan Government and KORAIL.
The Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers, which went into effect this past Sept. 30, is expected to increase the momentum to eradicate the private sector's illegal practices infringing on public interests such as health, safety, environment, and fair trade by protecting whistle blowers who report such illegal acts.
Q: Will you elaborate on the ACRC's mid- and long-term strategies to fight corruption?
A: The ACRC plans to perform changes and innovation on the part of the public service sector and social leaders. To this end, a system for evaluating the integrity of each ranking public officeholder will be introduced, while local council members will commit themselves to following codes of conduct. In particular, a guideline for defining public officeholders' arranging for and requesting of illegal advantage will be set while education on the spread of awareness toward recognizing such acts of corruption will be ramped up.
We plan to intensify our checks into the evasion of military service by social leaders, which causes a social deprivation among those in the low-income bracket, the transaction of information related to jobs, and the private use of public properties and wrongdoings related to public organizations' recruiting.
The ACRC is doing its utmost in giving consideration to the underprivileged in handing their grievances and administrative appeals issues.
Mandatory education on integrity according to each public officeholder's ranking will be conducted in a systematic and constant fashion, not a transient one. Each institution will be asked to conduct such an education program on its own by providing educational content and lecturers.
Q: Will you explain the current status of the Ombudsmen's corrective recommendations and civil grievance complaints the ACRC has handled?
Our Ombudsmen's correction acceptance rate reached 92.3 percent as of this past May, a level unrivalled in comparison to the levels of advanced countries: 65 percent for the United Kingdom and 83 percent for the Commonwealth Ombudsman. Albeit few in number, acceptance of correction measures by our Ombudsmen is denied or deferred due to a difference of judgment and budgetary issues, and we're doing our best in raising the acceptance rate of the pending issues.
The ACRC has received a total of 18,660 civil grievance complaints for the seven months of this year from January 2011, shortly after I took office, 17,244 of which were solved. The e-People portal, the modern version of Sinmoongo (Big Drum), a system of handing complaints against the government during the Joseon Dynasty, received a daily average of 2,916 civil grievance complaints by the end of this past August, representing a 33 percent surge over the 2,188 cases weekly in 2010. The ACRC has seen its satisfaction rate for handling civil grievance complaints improve to 63.8 percent by the end of August 2011 from 55.3 percent in 2010.
Q: Will you touch on corporate ethics policies to fight corruption?
A: Companies in advanced countries have an in-house whistle-blowing system to hedge risks stemming from illegal practices. For instance, Johnson & Johnson operates the help line for employees who report management's unethical acts.
The Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers is expected to contribute to our companies' promoting ethics management since they can improve consumers' confidence through the protection of public interest whistleblowers and preventing acts of infringing on public interests. The melamine-contaminated milk case in China has proved that such corporate illegal and unethical acts have tended to become global issues beyond territorial boundaries.
It has become a social norm now that corporate existence is designed not only to make profits, but also to take responsibility for improving the quality of life in communities to which they belong.
President Lee Myung-bak stressed co-existence management, ethical management and corporate social responsibility at his Liberation Day anniversary speech on Aug. 15.
Continued public support is asked to further spur momentum on the part of companies, civic communities and other segments of the private sector. We strive to provide support for helping companies build ethical and law-abiding institutional frameworks without infringing on public interests.
Economic organizations, including the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), join forces in spreading ethics management and creating an environment to ensure shared growth and existence between large- and medium-sized companies.
Q: Will you sum up the Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers, which went into effect in late September?
A: People have so far been reluctant to report any acts of infringing on public interests that they know about or have given up in fear of possible disadvantages the reporting may bring. For instance, in the case of a waste treatment firm that buries waste at a mine pit clandestinely without approval from authorities or discards harmful substances into the Han River, those who report this have been retaliated against and threatened because there was no institutional foundation to protect them.
But from now on, with the entry into force of the act, public interest whistle-blowers are under thick layers of protection, such as the protection of their confidentiality and safety and the reinstatement of advantages at their careers.
The act is designed to protect those who report acts of infringing on public health, safety, environment and consumers' interests as well as fair competition. It is legislated with the ultimate goal of stabilizing public lives and contributing to the sound development of society and the national economy.
Anyone who gets information on the violation of public interests or possible violations may report the violations to the related company, related government agencies and the ACRC. The implementation decree stipulates that lawmakers and some public organizations are also allowed to receive reportings from whistleblowers.
Whistleblowers should abide by reports with their signatures, containing their identities and attached evidence, but those
who submit false reports or make reports for fraudulent purposes are excluded from protection so that a sound and responsible environment for reporting violations of public interests can be created.
Q: Are there any extraordinary solutions to protect overseas Korean expatriates?
A: Civil grievance complaints can be submitted via the e-People, the ACRC's on-line portal, in nine foreign languages for the protection of foreign residents staying here and overseas Korean expatriates who do not know the Korean language. English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Indonesian, Thai, Uzbek, and Bangladeshi civil grievance complaint windows are in operation, and 1,963 cases of complaints were submitted by the end of August 2011. Visa-related matters, including the extension of stay and consultations on wages in arrears and layoffs have been submitted, and the civil grievance complaints written in foreign languages are replied to in Korean and related foreign languages. Foreign-language civil grievance complaint windows for countries with more than 10,000 residents in Korea, including Cambodia, will make their debuts at the e-People site soon.
Mobile "Sinmungo" will be made available to hear complaints from expatriates in Asia. The deputy director for complaints and deliberation was sent to hear complaints and recommendations during the period between Sept. 27 and Oct. 1 to flesh out on the MOU, signed by Korean and Indonesian ombudsmen.
I will tour Uzbekistan, Kyrkistan and Kazakhstan, each with many Korean expatriates, from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14 to collect their complaints and recommendations.
Q: How will anti-corruption efforts pay off to the fullest?
A: In reality, Korea's national integrity levels have shown signs of stagnancy in the recent years. But the reverse side of this is that fair society has become a major topic of attention and public expectations on ethics have mounted more than we think through the holding of confirmation sessions on high public officeholder candidates.
As a result, the ACRC is putting forth its fullest efforts to spread an environment of integrity among all segments of society. We've been offering systematic, needs-specific educational programs to distribute integrity to the public service sector. In particular, high public officeholders and overseas public service officials are required to undergo educational programs on integrity after taking office.
The ACRC have visited and offered education on integrity to 6,181 high public officeholders on 20 occasions since I took office here. Off-line education on integrity via the Integrity Educational Hall has been conducted for a total of 1,622 people on 26 occasions while such on-line education has been offered to 12,631 people on 27 occasions.
I have toured and given lectures in person to about 4,200 officials of 20 public organizations, including the Ministry of Justice, the Korea Coast Guard and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, on the theme "Fair Society and Integrity World."
In an effort to spread public awareness toward integrity, the ACRC has been implementing diverse hands-on programs and events such as the operation of 20 college integrity publicity teams, writing contests on integrity for students and the general public, the operation of integrity study pilot programs for 36 primary and secondary schools, and programs to tour historical sites on integrity. nw

Kim Dai-sik, Vice Chairman of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC)
Photo on courtesy of the ACRC

(from left) ACRC Vice Chairman Kim Dai-sik shakes hands with ex-U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan, Gabonese President Aliben Bongo Ondimba and Tanzanian President Jakaya Mriho Kiwete at his separate meetings with the three as a Korean chief delegate on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Cape Town on May 5, 2011.

ACRC Vice Chairman Kim, center, mingles with the children of the Balancing Rock Orphanage in Harare, Zimbabwe on May 8 after his participation in the WEF meeting. During this year's World Economic Forum on Africa, Kim volunteered for children at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

(from top) ACRC Vice Chairman Kim Dai-sik delivers a speech on clean government and fair society at the Korea Industrial Complex Corp. on Oct. 17.
ACRC Vice Chairman Kim has an interview with News World staffers at his office in Seoul, on Oct. 4.