Extravagant dinners with whiskey and wine, golfing weekends, pricey beef and seafood gift sets. South Korean companies are trying to figure out how to do without these common forms of business hospitality before the nation’s toughest-ever anti-graft lawtakes effect next month.
Conglomerates LG Group and SK Holdings are among those preparing information sessions for employees to ensure they comply with the new law. The Korea Chamber of Commerce is holding seminars, and retailers and restaurants are expanding their offerings of low-cost meal sets and gifts.
The law will weaken practices referred to in South Korea as "jeopdae," which focus on entertaining business colleagues, government officials and journalists. Passage of the legislation came after public anger boiled over when ties between regulators and the shipping industry were exposed in the wake of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.
South Korea has seen a dozen high-profile corruption cases this year alone, including the arrest of a senior national prosecutor on charges of accepting bribes from the founder of the country’s largest on-line game maker. Personal relations between those