On August 25 and 26, the sixth Directors Council Meeting held in Seoul, saw Directors from 26 Research Centers, along with the IBS President discussing a rich agenda of topics.

The opening day focused on the new Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (Kim Young-ran Act), drafted by the Korean Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) which will be enforced on September 28^th.

▲ IBS held its 6th Directors Council Meeting in Seoul on August 25-26.

▲ On the first day, the attorney Young Woo Park gave a talk about the new Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (Kim Young-ran Act).

This Act is meant to guarantee integrity and transparency, without ignoring Korean culture and social norms. Yoon & Yang LLC's attorney Young Woo Park presented the major points of this Act and how it affects IBS. Being a public institution, IBS must comply with this Act. "The aim of the Act is to make Korean society corruption free," explained the attorney Young Woo Park. "All IBS' heads and employees need to comply with it." The Act punishes people who engage in bribery through a third party and those who accept financial advantages. It bans public workers in Korean institutions from accepting financial advantages worth more than KRW one million at one time or whose aggregated value is more than KRW three million over one fiscal year. The attorney gave relevant examples pertinent to IBS, for example the Act includes punishments for public workers who accept excessive amounts of honoraria for external lectures in Korea or abroad. Some concerns were raised on how to harmonize these Korean legal principles to the norms and customs of the worldwide scientific community. Therefore, further discussions are needed to clarify how to conform to this Act without harming researchers' flexibility.

▲ Directors of Research Centers and IBS President are actively discussing which directions to take. The 7th Directors Council Meeting is scheduled to take place in Daejeon in November.

New guidelines on visa issuance procedures, payroll schemes for researchers and small value purchasing processes were also reviewed. The Council also revised status standards and remuneration of external full-time and part-time research personnel.

The next Directors Council Meeting will take place in Daejeon in November 2016 and it will coincide with IBS' 5^th Anniversary.