Gyeonggi Province Civil Servants Punished for Accepting Bribes and Favors Must Undergo 20 Hours of Integrity Education

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Henceforth, Gyeonggi Province civil servants caught accepting bribes or receiving favors must undergo mandatory integrity education of 20 hours in addition to strict disciplinary action.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 3rd that it will require violators who accept bribes or favors to complete integrity education on a mandatory basis in order to root out civil servant misconduct.

This is a follow-up measure to the Gyeonggi Province Civil Service's Three Priority Misconduct Prevention Plan established last month. The province is implementing strong personnel measures including intensive misconduct prevention messages, customized training by position and target, strengthened public service audits, and restrictions on promotion and training to eradicate major misconduct such as drunk driving, sexual crimes, and bribery that occur persistently and repeatedly, thereby establishing public service discipline.

Previously, among the three priority misconduct categories for civil servants, drunk driving and sexual crimes included mandatory education completion in their legal punishment provisions, while bribery and favor acceptance had no separate mandatory education requirement.
The province determined that education completion along with punishment is necessary to fundamentally prevent misconduct, and thus included violators of bribery and favor acceptance in the mandatory education target group.
Accordingly, civil servants under Gyeonggi Province must complete 20 hours of integrity education annually upon disciplinary action for accepting bribes or favors, and must submit supporting documentation upon completion of the education. If such education is not fulfilled without legitimate cause, the province plans to request disciplinary action through compliance audits.

Meanwhile, civil servants found guilty of accepting bribes or favors face promotion restrictions, and those subject to severe disciplinary action for accepting job-related bribes are subject to removal from office. Additionally, upon disciplinary decision, leniency is restricted based on a zero-tolerance principle.

A provincial official stated, "Gyeonggi Province is applying a zero-tolerance principle to major crimes that undermine public trust in civil servants," and added, "We plan to continue implementing various measures to eliminate misconduct."