Research Report
Ⅰ. Background and Purpose
□ Background and purpose of this study
○ In light of international standards, Korea falls short on public integrity, given its level of social and economic developments. The lack of public integrity can undermine Korea’s national development.
○ The purpose of this study is to review the main contents of ?Bill on the Prevention of Unjust Solicitations and Conflicts of Interest?(the Bill) - which is submitted to the Assembly for legislation by the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission of Korea with the purpose of preventing unjust request and encouraging integrity of public service - and to analyze its legislative issues.
Ⅱ. Main Contents
□ Purpose of legislation
○ Most of public corruption cases relate to bribery and misappropriation, many of which are dealt by a disciplinary measure and thereby immune from criminal penalties.
○ Moreover, public corruption cases show a larger gap between a statutory and sentenced punishment rate than that in other criminal cases. They also have a very low imprisonment sentence rate on appeal.
○ Accordingly, upon current failures to deter corruption, the Bill is distinguishable from other laws in that it provides the most comprehensive and precautionary regulations for categorizing the types of behavior that may lead to corruption and devising the legal system to detect such behavior, with the purpose of building up the trust of the people upon public office.
□ Methodology of this study
○ To analyze the Bill’s systematic adaptation and anticipated problems in enforcement, this study is conducted upon systematic analysis, case analysis, and comparative law analysis.
○ To conduct case analysis, this study selects cases that have limited applicability under current law, and analyze the potential legal effect of the Bill’s enactment in such cases.
○ To perform comparative law analysis, this study reviews various anti-corruption laws including the traditional law in the Choseon dynasty as well as current laws in Germany, France, US, UK, Australia, Japan and international laws.
Ⅲ. Expected Effect
□ Academic effect
○ Among researches on anti-corruption laws, this study most widely and comprehensively reviews and analyzes modern and transitional laws including not only current foreign laws but also old East Asian laws.
□ Effect in Policy
○ This analysis is expected to make clear legislative significance of ?Bill on the Prevention of Unjust Solicitations and Conflicts of Interest? by comparing the Bill’s legislative purpose with other legislations and examining its relations with other laws within the whole legal system.
○ This analysis is expected to describe the practical meaning of the Bill in enforcement by hypothetically evaluating and comparing the result of applying the Bill and the court decisions under current laws.
○ This study is expected to contribute to legislation in achieving its purposes to prevent unjust request and enhance the integrity of public service.