Some Lessons from Korean Experience in Anti-Corruption Policies and the Role of NGOs: from 1990s to 2000s

Some Lessons from Korean Experience in Anti-Corruption Policies and the Role of NGOs: from 1990s to 2000s Yun, Tae Beom In Korea, the progress of economic development is the diffusion of corruption for a long time. Unfortunately, such Korean economic success has not come without problems. In the process of pursuing government-driven economic development policies in the past, corruption began to mount due to excessive regulation governing the issuance of permits, licenses, and the like. The state of corruption in Korea has not been static. It may be said to have improved or worsened at certain periods. But unfortunately, many people think that the corruption in Korea is very confirmed and hard nut to crack in the future. Most incoming government had made the fight against corruption. But despite these initiatives, most government was embroiled in corruption scandals of its own. As a result, the Korean public became increasingly disillusioned with the government. The turning point in anti-corruption policy in Korea was the enactment of the Anti-Corruption Act(ACA) in 2001 under the Kim Dae-Jung government. ACA was initiated by NGO at the beginning in 1995. Korea Independent Commission on Anti-Corruption(KICAC) was established at the base on this act in 2001. ACA is the first symbol of his government's anti-corruption policies. Roh Moo-Hyun(2003-2007) had stressed and made many anti-corruption system. Roh government had emphasized the good governance, that is the cooperation with NGOs to fight corruption. So there are many activities related to civil society. Many members of NGOs had participated in government advisory committee as a adviser. The K-PACT(Korean Pact on Anti-Corruption & Transparency) is the result of NGOs' suggestion. In 2005, some influential persons, include president, assembly speaker, owners of big enterprises, leaders of NGOs, from the four sectors- public, political, business sectors and civil society- signed the Korea Pact on Anti-Corruption and Transparency. Korea’s corruptions are very complex and structural problems. So the solutions needs mid and long-term approach. But surely a few reform agendas can be done at once. As noted, Korea began to pay attention to the issue of corruption and actually made some efforts to reduce corruption in 1990s. But it is very encouraging that corruption prevention systems and foundations have been established to this extent in such a short period of time, and people expect to see many positive effects. And the effort of civil society and NGOs are very important in preventing corruption. It is impossible to express the anti-corruption policies except NGOs in Korea.