Kim Tae-jin, Gwangju Seo-gu Council Member, "Integrity Levels of Local Public Institutions All Decline"

Anti-Corruption Commission Integrity Evaluation... "Urgent Need for Local Politics Reform"

On the 19th, the Progressive Party Gwangju Local Assembly Group (led by Seo-gu Assemblyman Kim Tae-jin), analyzing the comprehensive results of the 2024 Gwangju Public Institution Integrity Evaluation announced by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, stated, “The integrity levels of Gwangju City Hall, the City Education Office, and five autonomous districts have all declined,” and argued that “a change in Gwangju local politics is urgent.”

In this integrity evaluation, Gwangju City Hall received a grade of 3, and the City Education Office received a grade of 4, while the perceived integrity level was the lowest at grade 5.

Kim Tae-jin, Member of the Gwangju Seo-gu Council.

The five autonomous districts of Gwangju?Gwangsan-gu, Nam-gu, Dong-gu, and Buk-gu?each received a grade of 3, with all except Nam-gu declining compared to the previous year. In particular, Seo-gu dropped two grades from last year to grade 4, the lowest among the five districts.

Among local councils, Dong-gu was the only one to receive grade 1 out of 69 autonomous districts, while Nam-gu Council received grade 2, Gwangsan-gu and Seo-gu Councils each received grade 3, and Buk-gu Council received grade 4.

Seo-gu Assemblyman Kim Tae-jin said, “Gwangju City Hall and the City Education Office received the lowest grade 5 in perceived integrity. Especially, Gwangju City Hall’s grade dropped by two compared to last year,” adding, “Regarding corruption eradication, the policies of the city and the education office are distant from the citizens.”

He continued, “The efforts for integrity in Gwangsan-gu and Seo-gu received grades 3 and 4, two grades lower than last year,” and added, “This shows that the corruption eradication policies of the autonomous districts are merely show events.”

Meanwhile, this evaluation was conducted on a total of 718 institutions, including 47 central administrative agencies, 243 local governments, 17 education offices, and 243 local councils.