Yongsan-gu Challenges for 2nd Grade in Public Institution Integrity Evaluation

Establishment of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan for Integrity Improvement... Four Major Action Strategies Including 'Creating a Clean Public Service Culture' Set
...Special Management of Vulnerable Areas Such as Routine Audits of Building Permits

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seongchang Hyun) has established the '2020 Comprehensive Plan for Improving Integrity.'

The goal is to become 'Yongsan, an Integrity City that Moves Its Citizens.' To achieve a 'Grade 2' rating in the public institution integrity evaluation conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the district will implement four major strategies: ▲ fostering an honest public service culture ▲ building anti-corruption infrastructure ▲ special management of vulnerable areas ▲ and promoting integrity policy projects.

First, the district will focus on 'fostering an honest public service culture' through events such as ethics education for newly appointed employees (February), Integrity Concert (March), Newcomer Integrity Workshop (April), anti-corruption education for all staff (August to September), and the 10th Blue and White Public Official Selection (November to December).

It will also prevent the socially problematic issue of 'workplace power harassment.' Related education will be conducted twice a year in connection with integrity education, and a Power Harassment Victim Reporting Center (☎2199-6262) will be established under the district's Audit Officer. Perpetrators will be strictly disciplined under a 'zero tolerance' policy.

The district's 'anti-corruption infrastructure' includes the Blue and White-e continuous monitoring system, self-diagnosis system, public official self-management system, and corruption impact assessment of local ordinances.

In particular, corruption impact assessments will be conducted when drafting or revising local ordinances to preemptively block potential corruption risks caused by legal uncertainties.

In accordance with the amendment to the Act on the Prohibition of Improper Solicitation and Graft (November 26, 2019), the district will also revise the public official code of conduct. After conducting corruption and gender impact assessments (April) and legislative notice (May), the revised regulations are scheduled to be promulgated within the first half of this year.

'Special management of vulnerable areas' covers routine audits of building permits, integrity and friendliness happy calls (continuous monitoring of vulnerable areas), and biannual inspections of civil complaint handling practices. Following last year, the district will also conduct autonomous (sample) inspections of repeated audit findings across all departments (dong) around June.

Additionally, the district has established various reporting centers under the Audit Officer, including the Improper Solicitation Reporting Center (☎2199-6256), Civil Complaint Impropriety Reporting Center (☎2199-6273), Public Interest Reporting Center (☎2199-6274), and Subcontracting Impropriety Reporting Center (☎2199-6293), to receive external reports on violations of laws and regulations. This aims to maximize citizens' trust in district administration.

Furthermore, the district plans major 'integrity policy projects' for this year, such as ▲ operating 'Integrity Week' on the fourth week of every month ▲ producing promotional materials like integrity calendars ▲ operating district honorary auditors ▲ and publishing audit casebooks.

Seongchang Hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, "An old saying goes, 'Even a great merit like Mount Tai is not as good as one act of integrity.' We will unite all staff to achieve good results in this year's public institution integrity evaluation."

The district received a comprehensive integrity rating of Grade 2 (7th nationwide) in the 2016 public institution integrity evaluation conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. It maintained a Grade 3 rating in the evaluations from 2017 to 2019.

Audit Officer (☎2199-6256)

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