[EDITORIAL] Institution reform

President Lee Myung-bak has launched a war on corruption, singling out venal local powerbrokers, corrupt educators and senior public officeholders open to bribery as his target. On an order from Lee, his aides in the Blue House, officials from the prime minister`s office, prosecutors, and other law-enforcement officers are investigating corruption cases involving those groups of people.

The declaration of a fight against corruption follows recent reports on cases involving principals and other educators suspected of bribery. Moreover, a growing number of political aspirants are suspected of making under-the-table deals with party officers for nominations as the local elections are approaching.

Also of great concern to Lee is a lesson he has learned from his predecessors that some of those close to the president succumb to temptations of bribery, beginning as early as the third year of the president`s five-year term. Now in his third year of governance, Lee is repeatedly warning his aides to guard against a "moral lapse," renew their commitment to public service and push ahead all the reforms they launched at the outset.



As he has mentioned, a campaign or two cannot eradicate corruption no matter how intensive they may be. He needs to fight it all year round. He also needs to become realistic and aim at reducing corruption to a tolerable level, instead of promising to "root out all types of corruption," as he did. Corruption does not just die hard. It never dies.

Here again, prevention is better than punishment. As such, Lee will do well to launch legal and institutional reform geared at removing potential sources of corruption.

One case in point is a proposal to revise election-related laws to ban party nominations for election to the post of a municipal mayor or a municipal council member. Few would believe municipal administration requires party backing.