President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday called for all-out efforts to fight corruption in both the public and private sectors, noting graft may be limiting the country's growth potential.

"I am certain that our potential growth rate will increase when we establish justice in our society," the president said in the inaugural meeting of a new anti-corruption council held at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

"There is a saying that corruption turns everything into naught. Throughout history, great powers, economies and national securities lost their glory and collapsed due to corruption," he said, according to Cheong Wa Dae pool reports.

The president urged immediate efforts to first reform the government, insisting the country's transparency has backtracked under former governments.
 

"Over the past several years, we moved backward rather than moving forward to become a more transparent nation," Moon told the meeting.

"The power that should have been more transparent than any other and the public sector that should have been cleaner failed to come out of the swamp of corruption, with (those in power) squeezing the livelihood of the people through unjust and corruptive ways and wasted the people's tax money as if their own while executing state powers," he added.

Moon, however, also stressed the need to eradicate corruption in the private sector.

"Corruption in the private sector deteriorates the people's livelihood by destroying our social justice, and thus we will only be able to build a fair society with no cheating and no special privileges when we also remove deep-rooted corruption in the private sector," he said.

Tuesday's meeting involved top government officials, including justice and defense ministers, as well as the heads of the prosecution and the national police.

The president called for comprehensive and multidimensional anti-corruption measures to fight corruption at all government offices, including the presidential office, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun.

"President Moon said Cheong Wa Dae cannot be an exception, and that Cheong Wa Dae must be the starting point in efforts to eradicate corruption," he told a press briefing.

The Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission vowed stepped up efforts to enhance the country's overall transparency, noting its Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International has dropped 15 notches since 2008 with the global ranking of local businesses' anti-corruption ethics plunging to 98th from 27th over the cited period, according to Park.

Efforts to eradicate corruption in the defense industry will include intensified penalties, Defense Minister Song Young-moo reported, according to the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman.

The defense minister said the ministry will also seek to introduce a new system that will require all arms dealers and brokers to disclose their earnings, along with mandatory registration of defense consultation firms.

Kim Sang-jo, chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, said his organization will focus on fighting corruption in the private sector.

The antitrust watchdog will work to prevent large conglomerates from forcing their suppliers to sign exclusive deals, he said.

Also, large franchisers will be required to disclose a detailed list of items their franchisees must purchase from themselves or specific suppliers, a practice that has been frequently blamed as a way for franchisers to gain excessive profits. (Yonhap)