President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called for stern measures to root out endemic corruption across society, the latest in a series of calls to make South Korea a cleaner and more transparent country.
“We cannot neglect corruption as a business practice that is unavoidable,” Park said in a regular Cabinet meeting.
She also warned that economic progress could be undone unless South Korea addresses corruption and ill practices.
The comments came about an hour after a former naval chief was summoned for questioning over his alleged involvement in the graft scandal related to the country’s indigenous salvage ship.
Retired Adm. Hwang Ki-chul is suspected of turning a blind eye to alleged corruption by his subordinates in 2009 in the selection process of a winning bidder for the domestically built salvage ship Tongyeong, according to investigators.
The scandal is the latest in a string of corruption cases in South Korea where some companies are willing to cut corners to quickly get things done or win lucrative business deals.
Park also encouraged Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo to carry out his anti-corruption drive.
Lee has recently declared an “all-out war” on corruption, saying the government will mobilize all its resources to root it out.
Earlier this month, the National Assembly passed a controversial anti-corruption bill.
The new law subjects public officials, journalists and private school faculty to a maximum penalty of three years in prison or fines of up to five times the amount they accepted in money or valuables if they take money or valuables worth more than 1 million won ($900) from one person in one installment, regardless of whether it was in exchange for favors or related to their work.
South Korea climbed three notches in an international corruption awareness ranking to 43rd out of 175 countries in 2014, according to a global anti-corruption watchdog.
The Berlin-based Transparency International said in December that South Korea scored 55 out of 100 in its 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, with high scores meaning low corruption. (Yonhap)
