President Moon: "Strict Punishment Without Tolerance for Some Public Officials' Misconduct... Public Service Discipline Must Be Restored" (Update)

The Government to Conduct a Two-Week 'Public Service Discipline Special Inspection Period' Starting Early July

President Moon Jae-in [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] President Moon Jae-in urged on the 28th regarding the recent consecutive cases of public officials' disciplinary lapses, "Strictly punish any deviant behavior with a zero-tolerance policy, and in the second half of the year, please gather the government's full capabilities centered on the Prime Minister to ensure public service discipline is properly maintained."

On the same day, President Moon held a regular meeting with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum at the Blue House and said, "While many public officials are working diligently with a sense of duty in responding to COVID-19, it is regrettable that the trust in the entire government is falling and criticism is increasing due to the deviant behavior of some," according to the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

Furthermore, President Moon urged Prime Minister Kim, "As the term nears its end, it becomes difficult to reconcile differences over policies, and social conflicts increase, which can become a burden on state affairs. I ask the Prime Minister's Office to proactively identify issues and respond swiftly and nimbly through coordination."

These remarks by President Moon came in response to a series of disciplinary lapses, including the death of a female sergeant who was a victim of sexual harassment in the Air Force, a high-ranking official of the Fair Trade Commission drinking during working hours, and errors in the public institution management evaluation scores by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Prime Minister Kim responded to President Moon's request by stating, "We will prepare and implement special measures to establish discipline in the public service." He added that through the Anti-Corruption Ministers' Meeting and the meeting of auditors from all central administrative agencies (chaired by the Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination) scheduled for early next month, they will tighten public service discipline and comprehensively review related measures to be intensively promoted in the second half of the year.

Additionally, from early July, a 'Special Public Service Discipline Inspection Period' will be operated for two weeks, with special inspections during vulnerable periods such as vacation seasons, and monthly inspections by each ministry under the responsibility of ministers will be conducted until the end of the year.

In particular, Prime Minister Kim said, "Regarding major policy-related disagreements and social conflicts, we will thoroughly manage them by concentrating government-wide capabilities centered on the Prime Minister's Office. For tasks where there is a risk of delay in legislation or policy implementation due to internal or external government disagreements, or tasks that attract high public interest and have significant social ripple effects causing concerns about conflicts, we will proactively coordinate and manage them considering their importance and urgency." He continued, "In this process, any passive work attitudes of public officials or departmental self-interest that may arise will be strictly dealt with as part of establishing discipline."

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