[In-Depth Review] Fairness Is the Answer for Administrative Agency Contests Too

Korean archery athletes won gold medals in both the men's and women's team events at the Tokyo Olympics. Especially remarkable is the women's archery team’s victory, marking their ninth consecutive win. The media unanimously credited fair athlete selection as the key to their success. It was a result of choosing solely based on skill, without considering academic background, region, or experience.

Recently, cases far from fairness, such as recruitment corruption in public institutions, academic credential forgery, disputes over performance bonuses in large corporations, and real estate speculation using insider information, have frequently become issues in our society. Observing these incidents, we are reminded that fairness is one of the most important social values of our time.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) is making various efforts to enhance fairness in our society. The ‘Conflict of Interest Prevention Act for Public Officials,’ proposed by the ACRC, passed the National Assembly plenary session on April 29 and is set to be implemented in May next year. A joint survey by related ministries will conduct the 4th comprehensive investigation on recruitment practices across 1,281 public institutions by the end of November. The law ensures fair performance of duties by public officials. The comprehensive survey is a measure to improve fairness in employment, which is of greatest interest to young people.

The ACRC has also devised measures to enhance fairness in contests hosted by administrative agencies. In January, a report shared on a public website revealed cases of winning entries in central government contests that sparked heated media coverage. It was also uncovered that the same content was submitted and awarded in contests hosted by local governments, bringing the poor management of administrative contests under scrutiny. Since contest awards can be used as credentials by students and job seekers, this caused widespread outrage.

On the ACRC’s public policy participation platform, ‘Gukmin Saenggakham’ (National Thinking Box), over 2,000 opinions demanded improvements to the administrative contest system. These included calls for transparent disclosure of the contest judging process and results, and stronger penalties for plagiarism and unauthorized use.

According to a February investigation by the ACRC covering 77 administrative bodies including central ministries, local governments, and education offices, there were 1,306 contests held by administrative agencies over the past three years (2018?2020), with about 610,000 submissions and prize money exceeding 11.5 billion KRW. More than half of these contests did not verify plagiarism, unauthorized use, or duplicate submissions among award candidates. In 12.5% of contests, results were not disclosed, and there were 39 cases where awards were revoked due to fraudulent acts such as plagiarism or unauthorized use.

In response, the ACRC, in consultation with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and other related agencies, has prepared measures to ensure fairness in the operation of administrative contests. By next year, the government plans to establish standardized integrated regulations and build a unified management platform that allows anyone to view everything from contest announcements to award disclosures. More than half of the judges will be external members, and recusal and disqualification systems will be introduced. To encourage active public participation in judging and verification, online voting and public verification procedures will be conducted on the integrated management platform. Participants will be required to submit an ‘Integrity Pledge,’ and penalties such as prize recovery will be strengthened if fraudulent acts like plagiarism are detected.

On the 2nd of last month, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) upgraded South Korea’s status from a ‘developing country’ to an ‘advanced country’ group. This is the first case of a country’s status changing from developing to advanced. If fairness takes root in our daily lives, South Korea can truly leap forward as a developed nation. We must not forget the lesson learned from the Olympic archery men’s and women’s teams: ‘Fairness brings gold medals.’

Lee Jeong-hee, Vice Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

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