19th Transparent Society Awards 2019
Transparency International – Korea announced Transparent Society Award Winners of 2019
Award Recipients:
- Kwon Jong-Hyun (a school teacher who got fired for reporting school integrity-related irregularities)
- Im Eun-Jung (a prosecutor who criticized the unfair prosecutions of defendants)
- Major (…) Lee (the first recognized whistleblower by the Ministry of National Defense)
- MBC ‘Straight’ (a group of current event reporters who persevere in addressing corruption issues through in-depth coverage)
Sun Hi Lee, Chairperson of Transparency International-Korea Chapter, publicly announced the recipients of this year’s Transparent Society Awards. This year, the winners are Kwon Jong-Hyun, Prosecutor Lee Eun-Jeong, Major Lee, and MBC ‘Straight’ reporters. The main criteria for becoming a winner/recipient of the award are explained as follow:
1. Kwon Jong-Hyun is a teacher who worked at the private school exposed corruption, violation of laws, fraud and budget waste, undemocratic school administration of private school corporations. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education found most of the exposures to be accurate. However, the school corporation not only punished the principal but also fired Kwon Jong-Hyun on September 19, 2019, for violating the duty to maintain the honor of the school. Right now, the dismissal of Kwon is under consideration by the Teacher Appeals Review Committee.
2. Im Eun-Jeong is a Deputy Prosecutor of Ulsan District Public Prosecutor’s Office. Eun-Jeong Im, despite challenges, imposed conduct of legal proceedings against the Prosecutors mishandling past cases. Lee criticized the prosecution’s excessive or improper power executions. Prosecutor Eun-Jeong Im has been exerting efforts to improve the integrity of legal authorities and contributed considerably to informing the public.
3. Major Lee is a military officer of South Korea’s defense army. Major Lee reported his superior’s violations of the nation’s anti-graft law. When the proceeding was conducted, Lee demanded that his identity be protected due to possibilities of retaliation, which was confirmed by the Ombudsman’s investigations. The Ombudsman then requested the Ministry of Defense to guarantee the protection of Lee’s identity. Major Lee became the first officer recognized and protected as a whistleblower by the Ministry of Defense.
4. South Korea’s MBC ‘Straight’ is a television current events news program since February 4, 2018. MBC ‘Straight’ maintained its investigations on various social issues, especially on corruption, by in-depth coverage. Among recent issues, the program is dealing with the problems of the prosecutors’ abuse of powers and authority.
TI-Korea’s Board member, Kang Sung-gu, and as the Chairperson of Transparent Society Award Committee, and chairperson of ‘Lee Han-Yeol Memorial Projects Association’ (TI-Korea Board member) has said:
“I hope that this Transparent Society Award (awards) will be at least encouraging and comforting to the winners for their sacrifices. A fair and transparent society will come to us a little faster with their continued concern toward their hard work, their warm encouragement, and our little actions.”
The Transparent Society Award praises and encourages efforts to make our society more transparent and just. Transparency International – Korea, founded in 2001, aims to extend this effort towards building a more transparent society. And this year, we are celebrating our 19th anniversary of this annual event.
The awarding ceremony was held on Monday, December 16, 2019, at 6:30 pm at the Citizens’ Workshop Room in Seoul City Hall, Seoul, South Korea.
Transparency International – Korea Chapter
***************
Translated by: Andra Vitola
Edited by: Abe Sumalinog