Preventing Stock Conflicts of Interest for Senior Officials... Public Officials Ethics Act Amendment Passed in Plenary Session

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] An amendment to the Public Officials Ethics Act aimed at preventing conflicts of interest arising from stock ownership by high-ranking public officials passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 1st.

On the 1st, the plenary session held at the National Assembly passed the partial amendment bill to the Public Officials Ethics Act. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On the afternoon of the same day, the National Assembly held a plenary session and passed the partial amendment to the Public Officials Ethics Act with 243 votes in favor, 4 against, and 17 abstentions out of 264 members present.

The amendment stipulates that high-ranking public officials who fail to dispose of stocks within two months after the obligation to sell or place them in a blind trust arises shall be prohibited from engaging in duties related to the stocks they hold.

According to the bill, the reasons for prohibiting involvement in stock-related duties now include the "period for reviewing job relevance" and cases where the sale, blind trust, or review request of stocks is not performed within the mandatory deadline (currently 1 month → amended to 2 months). Additionally, the fine for violating the duty to refrain from involvement in such duties is increased from "up to 10 million won" to "up to 20 million won."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.