The "Anti-corruption and Conflicts of Interest Act" was finally passed the National Assembly on March 3 with 228 yes votes out of 247 votes cast by law makers in attendance. The number of opposition and abstention was four and 15, respectively. It has been two years and seven months since the Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission proposed the legislation in August 2012.
Named after the then-chairperson of the commission, the "Kim Young-ran law" sought to criminal punishment to anyone (or the spouse), be it in government services, the media, private schools, or private school foundations, who takes money or gifts whose value is in excess of 1 million won (US$911) regardless of whether the bribe taker gives favors in return. Even if the one-time gift's value is no more than 1 million won, the gift taker may be punishable if the value of the annual sum of gift received from the same person is higher than 3 million won.
Once the law is promulgated after the final approval with the Cabinet meeting, it will go into effect after 18 months of a grace period, which is expected in October 2016. President Park Geun-hye, who is currently on a state visit to the four countries in the Middle East, commented on the passage of the law, "I hope this law could become a turnaround momentum for Korean society to root out the tradition of age-old corruption."
Even if the law was passed, controversies still rage on, especially on clauses that criminalize the bribe taker's spouse and expand those subject to the law to the private sector on the grounds that they are unconstitutional. The government estimated the number of those who will be subject to the law as many as 3 million. Others fretted the impact of the Kim Young-ran law will have a negative impact on the economy as it will no doubt shrink the demand for luxury goods and services in department stores, upscale hotels, country clubs, and high-end restaurants.
Source: The Korea Economics Daily
