Civil Service Ethics, Integrity, and Anti-Corruption
Civil Service Ethics, Integrity, and Anti-Corruption
This domain tests the ethical and statutory duties of public officials: integrity, neutrality, confidentiality, property registration, conflict-of-interest avoidance, and restrictions on gifts and solicitations. For Assembly staff, the internal ethics rules and the Assembly's ethics committee also apply.
Core rules
- The Public Service Ethics Act requires property registration and reporting for designated officials and restricts employment after retirement.
- The Anti-Corruption and Bribery Prohibition Act criminalises improper solicitations and acceptance of money or valuables linked to duties.
- The Improper Solicitation and Graft Act sets monetary caps for meals, gifts, and congratulatory or condolence money; the caps are adjusted by enforcement decree, so learn the current figures from the statute.
- The Conflict of Interest Prevention Act requires recusal where a public official's private interest conflicts with official duties.
- Confidential information learned in office must not be disclosed or used for private gain.
Worked example
A supplier offers an Assembly official a gift worth 60,000 won, saying it is 'just a token.' If the applicable gift cap is 50,000 won, the official must refuse it. Acceptance would violate the graft act even without a specific favour being requested, because the Act prohibits receiving gifts above the cap from persons with an official relationship. The official should report the offer through the proper channel.
Traps
'Customary' or 'small' does not decide legality; the statutory cap and the relationship do. Reporting an offer is not the same as accepting it. Do not confuse the ethics code's aspirational duties with criminal prohibitions; exam questions often ask which sanction applies.