The Public Officials' Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, which can punish, impose fines on or retrieve illicit profits from officials who take advantage of information gained on the job, will go into effect on May 19.

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission chair Jeon Hyun-Heui said in a briefing on Monday that until now, there was a failure to punish senior officials even when they were found to have violated the code of conduct because there was no specific disciplinary protocol.

Under the new act, senior officials subject to public disclosure of their assets, including ministers and vice ministers, are required to disclose to the government all private sector work from the previous three years within 30 days of their appointment. Violators will be subject to a fine of up to ten million won.

When officials find out that firms for which they consulted are connected to their current work, they must make a report within 14 days and avoid that work. If not, they will be subject to a fine of up to 20 million won.

Officials who profit off of information gained on the job will be punished and the profits confiscated. For example, officials whose relatives profit from internal information on real estate development will be subject to up to seven years in prison or up to 70 million won in fines. This comes after a corruption scandal at the state housing developer Korea Land and Housing Corp.

The commission estimated that the new rule will apply to some two million public officials.