Gov’t, party to push for passage of prevention of conflict of interest bill

Mar 11, 2021, 08:12 am

		0
Acting DP chairman and floor leader Kim Tae-nyeon speaks during a meeting of the top party council at the National Assembly on March 10, 2021/ Photographed by Lee Byung-hwa (photolbh)

AsiaToday reporter Jo Jae-hak

Amid increasing suspicion of land speculation involving employees of state-run institutions and civil servants, the government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) decided to speed up the passage of a bill aimed at preventing conflicts of interest involving public officials, which has been stalled for eight years. As the DP vowed to pass the bill with the recent LH scandal, attention is on whether the bill can be approved at the National Assembly.

“We will set up a parliamentary task force to oversee legislation and policies such as the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, the Public Officials Ethics Act, and the amendment to the National Assembly Act,” acting DP chairman and floor leader Kim Tae-nyeon said during a meeting of the top party council on Wednesday. “The key to eradicating corruption is to create a sophisticated system that prevents similar irregularities by civil servants in the future,” Kim said, vowing to eradicate corruption.

DP Rep. Shin Dong-kun also said the party is pushing to pass a series of bills to prevent recurrence of such incidents. “We ask the People Power Party to decide its position on these bills and cooperate,” he said.

President Moon Jae-in also showed support for legislation of the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act. “We would be able to block speculation itself if we can pass a bill to prevent conflicts of interest involving public officials,” the president said in a meeting with delegates of the ruling party. “The LH scandal may offer a chance for South Korea to move further toward a fairer and more transparent society,” he added.

As the DP started to push for the passage of the bill, it is likely to be passed in eight years since the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission first submitted the bill to the National Assembly in 2013. So far, lawmakers have shown willingness to legislate the bill whenever such conflicts of interest occurred, including a property speculation scandal involving former lawmaker Sohn Hye-won, and conflict of interest controversy between former PPP lawmaker Park Duk-hyum and DP lawmaker Lee Sang-jik. However, they took steps to dismiss them when such controversies died down.

There are five related bills pending at the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee. The bills include a provision to prevent public officials from facing conflict-of-interest situations, a provision to prohibit acquisition of profits from private use of confidential property, and more. The DP expects that the passage of the bill will prevent the pursuit of private interests of all public officials, including central and local government officials, and members of the National Assembly, and establish an institutional framework to punish violating public officials.

The Office of the National Policy Committee assessed that the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act would play a role in preventing corruption. “The bill is a complementary measure to the current related laws, which are focused on imposing sanctions against corruption,” the committee said in an evaluation report. “It is aimed at introducing a system to prevent conflicts of interest prior to the occurrence of corruption.”

“We will pass the Conflict of Interest Prevention bill as soon as possible,” Kim Byung-wook, secretary of the National Policy Committee, said in a phone interview with AsiaToday. “It is all a matter of how well the opposition party cooperates towards the passage of the bill,” he said.

#conflicts of interest prevention bill #Democratic Party #Kim Tae-nyeon #Moon Jae-in #corruption