Lawmakers hit for negligence in legislation
Lawmakers of both the ruling and opposition parties have come under criticism for dragging their feet in legislating a law designed to prevent conflicts of interest. Such a law is imperative to stop civil servants and elected officials from using insider information for personal gain.
The criticism comes amid a shocking land speculation scandal involving more than a dozen employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH). They face allegations that they used insider information to buy about 10 billion won ($8.8 million) worth of farmland in two cities, Gwangmyeong and Siheung, in Gyeonggi Province between April 2018 and June 2020.
The purchases were apparently for speculative gains before the government announced a new satellite city plan last month to build 70,000 apartments there as part of efforts to stabilize runaway housing prices. The public's outrage is growing over the scandal. How could the officials of the state housing developer buy the farmland which is to be developed into an apartment complex? It is as if they let the fox guard the henhouse.
Critics argue that the government could have prevented such a scandal if lawmakers had passed the bill on the prevention of conflicts of interest. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission submitted a draconian anti-graft bill to the National Assembly in 2013 which contained clauses regarding conflicts of interest. Lawmakers passed the bill in 2015 after deleting the clauses, resulting in a half-baked law.
The law, better known as the "Kim Young-ran Act" named after the former chairwoman of the commission, went into effect in 2016. But it cannot work properly to root out widespread corruption in officialdom because it has no clause to regulate conflicts of interest. In the face of growing calls for such a clause, the anti-corruption panel presented a bill on this to the Assembly in June 2020. But lawmakers turned a deaf ear without deliberating on it.
On Wednesday, President Moon Jae-in belatedly called for "fundamental" measures to avoid the recurrence of the land speculation scandal. He also demanded the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to work on how to prevent conflicts of interest. It is urgent to lay the legal groundwork to head off any land speculation by civil servants and raise transparency in real estate transactions.
In response, the DPK has promised to speed up enacting a law to prevent conflicts of interest and to create an effective system to fight against corruption. But it seems to be paying only lip service to calm the people's simmering anger over the alleged land speculation.
That's why some civic groups are accusing lawmakers of having formed a "legislative cartel" not to approve bills designed to crack down on their own corruption and hurt their interests. The Moon administration and the DPK should no longer delay the legislation to eliminate corruption and prevent conflicts of interest among civil servants and elected post holders.
Lawmakers of both the ruling and opposition parties have come under criticism for dragging their feet in legislating a law designed to prevent conflicts of interest. Such a law is imperative to stop civil servants and elected officials from using insider information for personal gain.
The criticism comes amid a shocking land speculation scandal involving more than a dozen employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH). They face allegations that they used insider information to buy about 10 billion won ($8.8 million) worth of farmland in two cities, Gwangmyeong and Siheung, in Gyeonggi Province between April 2018 and June 2020.
The purchases were apparently for speculative gains before the government announced a new satellite city plan last month to build 70,000 apartments there as part of efforts to stabilize runaway housing prices. The public's outrage is growing over the scandal. How could the officials of the state housing developer buy the farmland which is to be developed into an apartment complex? It is as if they let the fox guard the henhouse.
Critics argue that the government could have prevented such a scandal if lawmakers had passed the bill on the prevention of conflicts of interest. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission submitted a draconian anti-graft bill to the National Assembly in 2013 which contained clauses regarding conflicts of interest. Lawmakers passed the bill in 2015 after deleting the clauses, resulting in a half-baked law.
The law, better known as the "Kim Young-ran Act" named after the former chairwoman of the commission, went into effect in 2016. But it cannot work properly to root out widespread corruption in officialdom because it has no clause to regulate conflicts of interest. In the face of growing calls for such a clause, the anti-corruption panel presented a bill on this to the Assembly in June 2020. But lawmakers turned a deaf ear without deliberating on it.
On Wednesday, President Moon Jae-in belatedly called for "fundamental" measures to avoid the recurrence of the land speculation scandal. He also demanded the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to work on how to prevent conflicts of interest. It is urgent to lay the legal groundwork to head off any land speculation by civil servants and raise transparency in real estate transactions.
In response, the DPK has promised to speed up enacting a law to prevent conflicts of interest and to create an effective system to fight against corruption. But it seems to be paying only lip service to calm the people's simmering anger over the alleged land speculation.
That's why some civic groups are accusing lawmakers of having formed a "legislative cartel" not to approve bills designed to crack down on their own corruption and hurt their interests. The Moon administration and the DPK should no longer delay the legislation to eliminate corruption and prevent conflicts of interest among civil servants and elected post holders.
