President Lee Myung-bak presided over a Cabinet meeting this morning. At the meeting, the President made comments in connection with the approval of a revision to the Civil Service Code prohibiting religious discrimination by government officials. The following is the gist of the President’s remarks.

“It is deeply regrettable that the Buddhist community has been offended by the words and deeds of some civil servants that could have unintentionally caused misunderstanding that there is religious bias in the Government.

“On the occasion of revising the Civil Service Code today, I urge all civil servants to be firmly aware of the need to observe religious neutrality. I hope that no such incident, which can cause misunderstanding about religious bias, would happen in the future.

“In particular, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism should thoroughly supervise government officials to prevent any recurrence of such an incident. Other Cabinet members also need to pay keen attention and educate civil servants on this issue.

“In addition, I hope that this occasion will serve as an opportunity for religious circles and civil society as well to foster a spirit of tolerance and harmony.”

President Lee went on to say, “No matter what the context, trouble has been brought about because of a failure to follow proper etiquette towards the nation’s Buddhist leader. In this regard, the chief of the National Police Agency should visit the Buddhist leader to offer an apology and promise to prevent the recurrence of any similar incident in the future.”

President Lee also instructed the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to “additionally seek out legal and institutional measures going beyond just revising the Civil Service Code today to make sure that any controversy regarding bias against a religion will not reemerge in our society.”