When Kim Sung-hyun, a 28-year-old reporter, went out with close journalists from other news outlets last week, no one knew exactly whether they had to split the bill in accordance with the newly enforced anti-graft act.

“I made more than 10 calls to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission the next morning to clarify some of the clauses in the law,” Kim told The Korea Herald. “But I failed to reach the agency because the line was always busy.”

Two weeks into the enforcement of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, commonly called the Kim Young-ran Act, confusion still persists in the daily lives of public servants, journalists and teachers.

This week’s parliamentary audit has offered a hint at what might have gone wrong in the country’s preparation of the unprecedented law that aims to draw a line between accepted hospitality and bribery.

Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties criticized the law itself for being ambiguous and running counterculture. The government body in charge of preparing, promoting and enforcing the law substantially lacked preparation, which led to vast inconsistencies in the law’s interpretation and enforcement, they said.

“Is it corresponding to public common sense that students cannot even give carnations to their teachers on Teacher’s Day and offer a can of coffee to them in display of gratitude?” asked Rep. Kim Yong-tae of the ruling Saenuri Party. “On what grounds is it breach of law?”

The anti-corruption commission recently ruled that students offering cans of coffee or carnations and parents preparing picnic meals for teachers must be considered illegal.

The law is aimed at curbing corruption and changing the long-held business culture of offering gifts to government officials in return for favors in South Korea. It bans public servants, journalists and private school teachers from giving and accepting a meal worth more than 30,000 won ($26.70), gifts valued above 50,000 won or monetary payment of more than 100,000 won.

Kim pointed out that the commission further confused the public by adding the concept of “direct conflict of interests.” According to the act, if there are “direct” conflicts of interests, any exchanges of meals, gifts and monetary payment, regardless of their monetary value, are prohibited.

Rep. Hong Il-pyo of the ruling Saenuri Party also dismissed the commission’s ruling as “excessive.”

“Why is a fresh carnation banned, but a carnation made of a piece of paper allowed on Teacher’s Day?” he queried. “The act holds tremendous power, but how it can serve as a code of conduct for the public when it is so unclear?”

Sung Young-hoon, chief of the ACRC, confirmed the illegality of providing teachers with carnations and coffee.

“Given the public nature of the education sector and the high expectations about integrity of the sector, even within the given criteria if the purpose of exchanging gifts is not to conduct one’s duty, the action could be seen as a violation of the law,” Sung said. “But it is not likely to be punished because it is an extremely minor case.”

“In most cases, the anti-graft act is not unclear. Solicitation is when someone asks for something impossible to be done by someone else by offering favors,” he said.

Lawmakers also questioned the government’s willingness to enforce the anti-graft act, citing a shortage of staff members at the anti-corruption agency handling inquiries from the public.

“I doubt the government’s willingness to root out corruption. The commission asked for 73 more staff members to handle the anti-graft act, but the Interior Ministry only added five to the team this year,” said Rep. Choi Woon-yeol of the Minjoo Party of Korea.

Choi revealed the nine officials at the ACRC had responded to some 6,800 questions from the public since the law was passed in March 2015. Through Oct. 3, the organization received an average of 358 inquiries per day, which means each member of the team handled about 40 a day.

The chief of the ACRC said during the parliamentary audit that only 1,250 out of 6,400 questions had been answered as of Tuesday.

Until the act came into force, the government had one year and six months to prepare. But all the government did was form a task force comprising nine people and force them to respond to nearly 7,000 inquiries,” he said.

Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the minor Justice Party urged the government to set out more clear and detailed standards and rules.

“The anti-graft act is a stepping stone for our society to become a transparent society, but the commission should be more active in detailing sub-standards and defining what can be seen as social customs and illicit solicitation.”

The public largely remain positive on the anti-graft act, with 7 in 10 Koreans in favor of the law, a recent survey showed.

According to the poll of 1,009 Koreans, 71 percent said it was a good thing, 15 percent said it was wrong and 14 percent remained undecided. Of those in favor of the act, 31 percent expected the law to eradicate corruption. 

By Ock Hyun-ju  (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)