The Current Status of Legislation and Tasks Regarding the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act of Korea

The Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (hereafter Solicitation Prohibition Act) consists of 5 chapters and 24 articles regarding the prohibitions of improper solicitations and receiving bribes and relevant procedures and punishments for violation of the Act. It can be viewed as reasonable legislative policy to have the Solicitation Prohibition Act classify improper solicitation acts that were previously not addressed by the legal system and place them on the prohibition list and devise proper measures such as imposing criminal punishment or fines depending on the gravity of the offense. However, the following aspects of the Act need improvement: limiting the application of the Act to specific groups based solely on consideration of the public nature of the education sector and public interest of the press; listing the types of improper solicitation so that those not included on the list may not be regulated by the Act; and deletion of the article regarding the prevention of public officials’ conflicts of private interests, which was one of the major points in the proposed bill.