Police Rank Last in Integrity Evaluation Among Central Government Ministries... LH Also Receives Lowest Grade

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Announces 2021 Public Institution Integrity Ratings

Prosecutors Grade 3 · Disease Control Agency Grade 4
Statistics Korea · Legislation Office · Saemangeum Development Agency Grade 1

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The National Police Agency received the lowest grade, level 5, among central government ministries in this year's public institution integrity evaluation. The Prosecutor's Office received level 3, one grade lower than last year, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, evaluated for the first time this year, received level 4. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which received level 5 last year, improved by one grade to level 4.

On the 9th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced the results of the integrity survey conducted on 592 public institutions, including central administrative agencies, local governments, education offices, and public-related organizations. The overall integrity score of all public institutions was 8.27 points, the same as last year. The comprehensive integrity score is calculated by reflecting the occurrence of corruption incidents based on external integrity evaluations from 145,006 citizens who have had work experience with public institutions, and internal integrity evaluations from 61,300 public officials belonging to the institutions. The external integrity score of all institutions was 8.54 points, and the internal integrity score was 7.57 points, increasing by 0.01 points and decreasing by 0.02 points respectively compared to last year.

The Anti-Corruption Commission divided institutions into detailed types considering institution type and staff size, then assigned grades from 1 to 5 based on the comprehensive integrity score.

The National Police Agency, the only central ministry to receive level 5, had an internal integrity score rated at level 3 by public officials but received level 5 in external integrity. A commission official explained, "External integrity reflects corruption cases experienced by citizens who had professional contact with the institution over the past year." Receiving level 5 in external integrity means that the public perceives the degree of police corruption externally as severe.

Central ministries that received a comprehensive integrity level 4 include the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Korea Forest Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the Korea Coast Guard, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, launched last year, received level 4 in external integrity and level 3 in internal integrity, indicating a low evaluation.

The National Tax Service, which ranked last with level 5 two years ago, improved to level 4 last year and received level 2 this year. Although its external integrity was level 3, the internal integrity rose two levels to level 1, influencing the overall improvement.

Among central administrative agencies, the Statistics Korea, the Ministry of Government Legislation, and the Saemangeum Development Agency received level 1 in comprehensive integrity, with Statistics Korea maintaining level 1 from last year.

Among public-related organizations, the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), which was involved in an insider information speculation scandal earlier this year, dropped one level from last year to the lowest level 5. While it maintained level 4 in external integrity evaluation, its internal integrity dropped three levels to level 5.

At a briefing held at the Government Complex Seoul, Chairperson Jeon Hyun-hee of the Anti-Corruption Commission stated, "Additional penalty points were applied through qualitative evaluation for major corruption incidents like the LH scandal," adding, "This reflects the changed environment due to the enactment of the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act and the public's expectations."

The average comprehensive integrity and external integrity scores of 59 institutions performing real estate-related tasks among public-related organizations were 8.39 and 8.65 points, respectively, lower than the averages of 8.56 and 8.88 points for 153 institutions not performing real estate tasks. The commission explained that all corruption perception items in external integrity were generally lower for institutions not engaged in real estate tasks, with particular weakness in transparency and openness of work processing standards and procedures.

Among metropolitan local governments, Chungcheongbuk-do was the only one to receive level 1, while Gyeonggi-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Daejeon Metropolitan City, Ulsan Metropolitan City, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, and Chungcheongnam-do recorded level 2. No level 5 grades were given.

Among education offices, none received level 1; Gangwon Provincial Office of Education, Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education, Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Office of Education, and Chungcheongbuk-do Office of Education received level 2. Sejong Special Self-Governing City Office of Education dropped three levels in one year to level 5.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission plans to significantly reform the evaluation system by integrating the public institution integrity measurement survey and the anti-corruption policy evaluation. This aims to comprehensively assess not only corruption experiences and incident data but also each institution's anti-corruption efforts and achievements. After a public consultation process, the final reform plan will be confirmed in the first half of next year.