Government agencies and civil societies jointly launched a network Wednesday to eradicate corruption in Korea.

The cooperative body, named Korean Network on Anti-Corruption and Transparency, aims to pool efforts of civilian and public sector to root out graft by sharing information, fostering experts and hosting a symposium to design relevant policies.

K-NACT will consist of 38 government and civic organizations across the country including the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and the nongovernment Transparency International Korea. 

The movement is in keeping with the nationwide consensus to eradicate corruption among government officials and rich businessmen, which was purported to have played a part in the fatal sinking of the Sewol ferry in April.

Chae Yeong-su, the head of the NGO Heungsadahn Transparency Movement, pointed out that illegal practices concerning the government and business sector still ails Korea despite the country’s economic development.

“Corruption is not something that appears overnight, but an accumulation of those that were overlooked as ‘custom’ and have infested amongst our society like cancer,” vice chairperson of the ACRC Kwak Jin-young said during the launching ceremony of the K-NACT, which was held at Seoul Station at 2:30 p.m. She urged participants to engage in a nationwide anticorruption campaign.

Participating groups signed a joint declaration that vowed to “weed out corruption and hand over a transparent society to our descendants.”

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)