Korea: Integrity Assessment

Date
22 July 2010
Posted by
Yoon So-yeong
Introduced in 2002, the Integrity Assessment is part of the Korean government's efforts to promote the transparency and fairness of public administration. It was designed to measure the levels of public-sector integrity, identify corruption-causing factors, and improve the systems that are vulnerable to corruption.

It was introduced in 2002 by the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption (KICAC), which has been merged into the current Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) with two other commissions in February 2008.

The Integrity Assessment is aimed at assisting public organizations in identifying the areas susceptible to corruption and setting up effective measures to prevent corrupt practices in corruption-prone areas. The fundamental goal is to encourage them to step up their anti-corruption efforts on their own.

The Integrity Assessment evaluates integrity levels of public organizations based on surveys of citizens, businessmen, public officials, and experts as well as statistics of corruption cases.

The Comprehensive Integrity Index is calculated by reflecting the scores of External Integrity, Internal Integrity, Policy Customer Evaluation and Occurrences of Corruption.

The results of the integrity survey are disclosed to the public and reflected in the evaluation of performance of public organizations.

Since the Integrity Assessment was launched in 2002, public organizations in Korea have paid keen attention to the assessment results. To move up the "integrity ladder,"low-ranked institutions strive to take anti-corruption measures tailored to specific conditions in each area of service; to establish and operate an internal body dedicated to preventing corruption; and to focus resources on improving their systems pertaining to the areas that are prone to corruption.

Although the assessment model reflects the unique characteristics of Korea's public service, it can be adjusted and applied to different cultures and environments. The core principles and strategies of the assessment system can be transferred to any country or organization that intends to increase its level of integrity.

The assessment system won the 2012 UN Public Service Awards in the category of Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service, and is recognized as one of the best anti-corruption measures of Korea.

Website: http://www.acrc.go.kr

References

The major part of information above was cited from "A Practical Guide to Integrity Assessment" (2015) with approval from the ACRC.
Last updated on 28 July 2016.

 

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