Amid public criticism of the failure to deploy the “Tongyeong”, the first Korean-made state-of-theart salvage and rescue ship, to the rescue mission when the Sewol ferry sank, investigations into alleged corruption in the supply of parts for the Tongyeong began in 2014. Then, as such corruption allegations were proved true, leading to growing criticism about widespread corruption across the defense industry, the government formed a joint investigation team to investigate corruption charges in the defense industry. Consisting of four teams totaling 105 investigators (composed of prosecutors, policemen, and other specialists), the joint investigation team was established under the anti-corruption special investigation division of the anti-corruption department at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, with its office at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, on November 21, 2014. Based on the results of the investigations of the joint investigation team, the government announced on October 29, 2015 that it would establish a defense acquisition program supervision bureau, tasked with permanent monitoring to eliminate corruption in the defense industry. The new bureau within the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) will employ investigation/inspection specialists with legal expertise to perform duties including project verification/investigation, prevention of corruption, legal support and litigation procedures under an open recruitment system. Then, as a follow-up action, the government reorganized the DAPA and the agencies under its control as of December 31, 2015 to establish the Defense Acquisition Program Supervision Bureau, which we will examine below.
- Existing Legal Organization: “Regulatory Reform and Legal Affairs Division”
- New: “Defense Acquisition Program Supervision Bureau”
- Outlook
- Implications for the future
