반부패 정책수단으로서의 공익신고자 보호법 평가

There are growing cases of breaching act of public interest in private sector as well as corruption in public sector. The breaching act has many disadvantages: it distorts the social structure, undermines the national competitiveness, and also has a significantly negative influence on the citizen. The measures have been considered to protect public interest whistle-blowers, to prevent their damage from increasing, and to control the corruption and breaching act of public interest. Until now, in fact, there have been a number of discussions at the academic and government level by covering several issues: Corruption reports, providing information about public interests, whistle-blowing act and protection of whistle-blowers from retaliation. However, it is true that discussions over breaching act of public interest in private sector and protection of whistle-blowers have not been enough. For this reason, the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission has recently suggested the Whistle-blower Protection Act. The main points are: Expanding the range of whistle-blowing act to corruption cases of public sector from those of public sector alone, strengthening protection of whistle-blowers from retaliation. This research, therefore, has analyzed the essential points necessary to understand the whistle-blower protection act system of United States, British and Japan, by the comparative method, all of which have largely influenced on that of South Korea from formation to development. After that, it has reviewed and evaluated Korean whistle-blower protection act by various criterias: The subject and object of reports; measures of report, discipline and protection; measures of compensation and exemption; the legal status and authority of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission. This is expected to act not only as a catalyst for successful introduction of the whistle-blower protection system, but also as a preliminary study for follow-ups. Studies on the whistle-blower protection system should be carried out continuously and regularly, rather than end up a one-time research.