The country’s anti-corruption agency said Thursday it will toughen its crackdown on public officials involved in irregularities as part of efforts to root out corruption in the public sector and to regain people’s trust.

Under the bill proposed by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, government officials caught accepting more than 1 million won ($883) in bribes will face punishment of up to three years in prison or fines of up to five times the kickbacks received.

The rule will be applied regardless of whether officials accept the money for favors with strings attached, the ACRC said.

The draft, tentatively named the “Anti-Corruption and Conflicts of Interests Act,” will also put civic servants who grant favors dealing with their duties behind bars for up to two years or fine them 20 million won.

The bill also prohibits making illegal requests to public servants via a middleman, with the solicitor facing a maximum of 10 million won in fines, and the intermediary facing a maximum of 20 million won in fines.

Public officials are also supposed to flatly reject any illegal requests, and in the event of repeated soliciting, they can report the case to the chief of their respective agency, according to the bill.

“It is now high time for our society to have simple and clear rules to root out old evil habits of cronyism in accordance with common sense,” said ACRC Chairwoman Kim Young-ran, who led the proposal.

A barrage of criticism has mounted over widespread and chronic corruption in public offices in South Korea, as it has seen a series of high-ranking officials come under investigation on such charges. An ACRC survey last year showed that some 56.7 percent of 1,400 citizens regard civil servants as corrupt.

“The rules detail restrictions in more comprehensive terms, and puts forth detailed norms of behaviors required for public officials, which aims to prevent primary factors of irregularities in the first place, instead of focusing only on uncovering and seeking punishment after the facts,” Kim added.

The ACRC said it will notify the public of the proposal over a 40-day period starting next Wednesday, before submitting it to parliament within this year. If passed, the rule will take effect starting one year after its proclamation, coupled with an additional year of grace period. (Yonhap News)