Gyeongbuk Cultural Foundation, Gimcheon, Andong Medical Center Rank Last in Overall Integrity... Gyeongbuk Province Evaluates 23 Invested and Affiliated Institutions

Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 6th that the average comprehensive integrity score of 23 investment and subsidy institutions under Gyeongsangbuk-do in 2024 was 8.78 points (out of 10).

This score is the same as the previous year's average score of 8.78 points. Since the introduction of the integrity evaluation in 2021, the comprehensive integrity score had steadily improved, but this year it remained at last year's level.

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office

The annual comprehensive integrity scores were surveyed as 8.42 points in 2021 → 8.70 points in 2022 → 8.78 points in 2023 → 8.78 points in 2024.

Since 2021, Gyeongbuk Province has been evaluating comprehensive integrity to objectively and scientifically measure the integrity levels of its affiliated public institutions, diagnose corruption-inducing factors, and implement improvements.

Comprehensive integrity is assessed by combining scores from three categories: 'external integrity perception,' evaluated by residents who have experienced services and work with the investment and subsidy institutions; 'internal integrity perception,' evaluated by the institution’s employees; and 'integrity efforts,' which assess each institution’s efforts to prevent corruption. Based on the combined score, institutions are assigned grades from the highest 1st grade to the lowest 5th grade.

Detailed evaluation results show that the average external perception score of all institutions was 9.83 points, an all-time high that increased by 0.19 points from last year's 9.64 points, indicating a high level of integrity at the point of contact with residents.

The internal perception score, evaluated by institution employees, was 8.44 points, a significant increase of 0.71 points from last year's 7.73 points, marking the highest rating ever.

On the other hand, the integrity effort score was 8.26 points, showing a slight decrease of 0.20 points compared to last year's 8.46 points.

By grade, there were 10 institutions rated 2nd grade, 6 institutions rated 3rd grade, 4 institutions rated 4th grade, and 3 institutions rated 5th grade. Most institutions showed a slight deviation from the average score, indicating an upward leveling trend.

Regarding individual institutions, none received the 1st grade. The institutions rated 2nd grade were: Gyeongsangbuk-do Economic Promotion Agency, Gyeongbuk Credit Guarantee Foundation, Gyeongbuk Technopark, Gyeongbuk Happiness Foundation, Gyeongbuk Traffic Culture Training Center, Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Corporation, Gyeongsangbuk-do Talent Lifelong Education Promotion Agency, Gyeongsangbuk-do Disabled Sports Association, Saemaul Foundation, and Korea Institute of Korean Studies.

Notably, the Gyeongsangbuk-do Economic Promotion Agency improved its comprehensive integrity significantly from 4th grade last year to 2nd grade this year, with both internal and external perception scores rising by two grades.

Next, the institutions rated 3rd grade were Gyeongbuk Research Institute, Gyeongbuk Patriots and Veterans Foundation, Gyeongbuk Agricultural Products Distribution Education Promotion Agency, Gyeongbuk Women's Policy Development Institute, Gyeongbuk Comprehensive Volunteer Center, and Dokdo Foundation.

The 4th grade institutions were Gyeongbuk Bio Industry Research Institute, Gyeongbuk Sports Council, Gyeongbuk Environmental Training Center, and Pohang Medical Center, while the 5th grade institutions were Gyeongbuk Cultural Foundation, Gimcheon Medical Center, and Andong Medical Center.

A Gyeongbuk Province official stated, “The Gyeongbuk Development Corporation, which is included among the investment and subsidy institutions, was excluded from this survey. Since the National Anti-Corruption Commission conducts integrity surveys for Gyeongbuk Development Corporation, it was excluded from the province’s own survey to avoid duplication.”

Gyeongbuk Province notifies the evaluation results not only to the respective institutions but also to the management and supervisory departments to utilize them for improving integrity. The results are also reflected in the management performance evaluations of local investment and subsidy institutions and the performance evaluations of institution heads (local medical centers), and rewards (up to 1 million KRW) are given to top institutions.

Additionally, the province plans to implement expert integrity consulting to develop customized improvement measures for lower-ranked institutions (4th grade or below) in the future.

Seo Jeong-chan, Auditor of Gyeongbuk Province, said, “Through the comprehensive integrity evaluation of investment and subsidy institutions, we analyze each institution’s integrity vulnerabilities and support them in becoming trusted and transparent institutions by implementing tailored improvement measures. We will work together with each institution to achieve this goal.”