Pres. Kim Stands Firm Against Corruption

President Kim Dae Jung emphasized on October 12 that the government should mobilize its full capacity to clean up corruption of mid and low grade civil servants. Kim said in a State Council meeting, 'The Government of People was established eight months ago but corruption of civil servants has not been improved at all. People do not believe that the government is sincere because they think corruption in governmental sectors continues unabated.'
Kim continued, 'The Board of Audit and Inspection as well as the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and the Ministry of Justice have to install programs to eliminate corruption. All sorts of regulations can be traced to a corrupt origin. Abolish half of the regulations and reform the remaining ones.'
He added, 'The government spent huge funds to spark the sluggish economy but it did not work. It used big money in Social Overhead Capital but the front lines say it is not working. The government lowered the call and commercial paper interest rates but loan rates did not drop. Small and medium size companies, especially, suffer from a perceived lack of credibility and cannot secure badly needed new loans. Who can believe the government in this situation?'
The President's comments on this day were extraordinarily frank and aggressive. This shows that the President considers corruption-shooting as the most urgent task. He commented, 'People can endure economical pains but they cannot stand corruption.'