Disciplinary Actions for 'Workplace Harassment' in Public Officials and Public Institutions Starting Next Year

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Announces 2022 Work Plan

Ahn Seong-wook, Secretary General and Vice Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, briefing on the '2022 Work Report' at the government Sejong Government Complex briefing room on the 29th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government has decided to include workplace harassment within the concept of power abuse in the public officials' code of conduct to eradicate power abuse in the public service sector.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced the '2022 ACRC Work Plan' containing this content on the 29th. Chairperson Jeon Hyun-hee emphasized, "2022 is the time to solidly promote anti-corruption, integrity policies, and protection of citizens' rights to produce tangible results that the public can feel."

First, to eradicate power abuse in the public service sector, the ACRC will include workplace harassment in the concept of power abuse in the public officials' code of conduct and supplement detailed behavioral standards such as strengthening protection measures for victims of power abuse. They also plan to amend the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act to prohibit public officials from making improper solicitations to the private sector to ensure fairness in the private sector.

The specialized ombudsman system will also be revitalized to eliminate blind spots in rights protection. The introduction of a 'Investigation Ombudsman' will be pursued to actively remedy infringed rights of citizens related to all investigative agencies such as the prosecution, police, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). Additionally, to strengthen rights protection against human rights and rights violations within the military, a response system will be enhanced, including the designation and operation of specialized investigators, so that military personnel can safely file grievances throughout their entire service period from enlistment to discharge.

The Conflict of Interest Prevention Act for public officials will also be enforced starting May 19 next year. The ACRC, as the institution overseeing the system's operation, will conduct on-site education targeting public officials subject to the law, produce and distribute standard lecture materials and instructor manuals, and actively support internal training at various levels. Each institution will designate and operate a conflict of interest prevention officer to ensure thorough preparation before the law's enforcement and will be supported in establishing 'self-operation guidelines' reflecting institutional characteristics by preparing a standard operation guideline for the conflict of interest prevention system.

To ensure continuity and thorough implementation of the government's anti-corruption policies, a second five-year comprehensive anti-corruption plan (tentative name) will be established following the first five-year plan formulated in May 2018. The second plan will include key strategies and tasks for stabilizing the national integrity ranking within the top 20 by selecting insufficient and continuously necessary tasks through evaluation of the existing plan and discovering new tasks reflecting changes in social conditions.

Starting next year, the 'Public Institution Integrity Measurement' and 'Anti-Corruption Policy Evaluation' will be integrated into a 'Comprehensive Integrity Evaluation' that comprehensively measures corruption perception, experience, anti-corruption efforts, and achievements of public institutions at all levels. When corruption issues become social concerns, an immediate response system will be activated to swiftly prepare improvement measures through joint investigations by related agencies. Improvement measures will be prepared within 100 days through joint investigations. To this end, corruption issue monitoring and on-site inspections will be strengthened.

The whistleblower protection and compensation regulations, currently divided between the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Act and the Whistleblower Protection Act, will be unified mainly under the Whistleblower Protection Act. This aims to unify protection and compensation standards and prevent confusion in legal application. Chairperson Jeon stated, "We will do our utmost to complete anti-corruption and fair reform to leap forward as a truly advanced integrity nation."

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