Coming on the heals of former finance minister Lee Hun-jai’s resignation, National Human Rights Commission of Korea president Choi Young-do has resigned due to suspicions of real estate speculation. This string of incidents testifies how much the need has grown for thorough surveillance of the real estate dealings of high officials, not only when they undergo inspection when they are appointed, but also when they are on the job. Seen in this regard, we think it’s natural for the Uri Party seek to reform the civil servant ethics law while pushing plans for civil servants to include real estate with stocks as something to be put into a bank trust before they become civil servants.
The rationale is clear as to why real estate must be included with stocks in the trust plan. The real estate market may be slow, but it’s still the most promising way to increase one’s property in this society. High officials, who are the highest policy makers of the land, are in an advantageous position to get early information on real estate investments. There remains the possibility that these individuals might use such information to make real estate deals. In the case of officials with a lot of real estate holdings, they might take a negative stance toward policies designed to stabilize the real estate market. Accordingly, high officials need to place their real estate holdings in trust and be barred from making real estate transactions. This is blocking off at its source civil servants making windfalls off of real estate while in office.
Moreover, when officials announce their property, they must clarify how they increased their property, and in particular, they must such how they increased their real estate holdings. If they declare only their current holdings like now, it is hard to judge whether their real estate holdings were acquired through legal means. If, like in these last cases, only those officials with "bad luck" are forced out after coming under concentrated public scrutiny, one cannot pull out the problem of official real estate speculation by its roots.
We hold high officials to severe standards because they control government policy. If officials cannot keep clean with real estate, all policies will lose the trust of the people. There may be a debate over whether such a policy excessively restricts the property rights of high officials. While they are public officials, however, they will have to resign themselves to having their property rights restricted to some extent.
The Hankyoreh, 21 March 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (MRT)]
[Editorial] High Officials Must Put Their Real Estate in Trust |
