South Korea’s Anti-Graft Law Affects 40,919 Organizations

South Korea's anti-graft law will affect an estimated total of 40,919 organizations predicting huge changes in gift-exchanging traditions in the Asia's fourth largest economy.

According to the anti-corruption commission in South Korea, the anti-graft law will be effective on the last week of September. The Constitutional Court gave an approval to anti-graft law to be effective on September 28.

According to a survey report, South Korea was ranked 37th out of 177 countries in Transparency International's 2015 league table of perception of corruption. Many people feared that corruption in Korea had expanded and developed, making it more difficult to eliminate and vanish. Due to the graft and corruption issues in South Korea, a new anti-graft law was introduced in the country.

Corruption is widespread at all levels of Korean society. In July, A 73-year-old heiress of the chemicals-to-confectionery conglomerate, or chaebol, Lotte was arrested with charges of malpractice and embezzlement. On the same month, a senior prosecutor was charged with bribery after allegedly getting more than 950 million won from a gambling boss.

The Kim Young-ran anti-graft law hopes to give more transparency to the employees of selected government sectors for maintaining higher ethical standards compared to ordinary citizens. Under the policy of anti-graft law, there are prohibitions like receiving meals that are higher than 30,000 won in price, gifts exceeding 50,000 won, and congratulatory or condolence money over 100,000 won for people who are working for the government, at media outlets and schools.

According to the government records, the provincial state-run organizations together with 21,201 local schools are also affected by the new law as well as the central administrative bodies.

Furthermore, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission of South Korea said that they plan to accept any objections from the organizations listed and they are willing to give advice and help to the organizations that will be affected by the new anti-graft law.