Gangdong-gu Achieves Grade 2 in Public Institution Integrity... Highest Grade Among Autonomous Districts Nationwide

2020 Public Institution Comprehensive Integrity Level 2... External Integrity Drives Grade Improvement... Creating a Trustworthy Cheonggangdong Amid COVID-19 and Other Crises

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) achieved a comprehensive integrity rating of Grade 2 in the ‘2020 Public Institution Integrity Evaluation’ conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

Considering that no autonomous district nationwide received a Grade 1, this is effectively the highest rating.

The Public Institution Integrity Evaluation is an integrity measurement system conducted annually by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, reflecting evaluations from internal and external customers as well as the occurrence of corruption incidents across public institutions nationwide.

In this year’s evaluation, Gangdong-gu received a comprehensive integrity rating of Grade 2, an improvement of one grade from last year. Since no autonomous district nationwide received Grade 1, this is effectively the highest rating.

In particular, the external integrity score, measured from external customers who experienced district administration services, rose significantly from 8.73 points (Grade 3) last year to 8.96 points (Grade 2), driving the grade improvement.

This result comes from continuously discovering and implementing integrity policies such as operating a reporting board for abuse of power, establishing an integrity network with the private sector, providing outreach integrity education, setting standards for permits and approvals, delivering integrity letters in corruption-prone areas, and forming a specific technology review committee.

Although the internal integrity score remained at 7.29 points (Grade 3), it received outstanding scores of 8.19 points in organizational culture and 7.18 points in anti-corruption systems, surpassing the national autonomous district averages of 7.83 and 6.22 points, respectively.

In March, the district established the ‘2020 Comprehensive Plan for Integrity Improvement,’ which includes 36 detailed projects across four areas, and has been making multifaceted efforts to foster an integrity-based organizational culture.

These efforts include revising the Seoul Metropolitan Government Gangdong-gu Public Officials’ Code of Conduct regulations, establishing department-specific plans and appointing integrity officers, conducting code of conduct and public service discipline inspections, expanding corruption risk diagnosis, setting up anti-corruption systems such as a continuous monitoring system for civil complaints, requiring all employees to sign integrity pledges, providing outreach integrity education, operating Integrity Day, broadcasting integrity programs with executives, managing an integrity pledge board, and selecting the catchphrase ‘Integrity Gangdong, Trusted Gangdong’ to enhance employees’ integrity awareness and improve organizational culture.

Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon of Gangdong-gu said, “I believe this achievement is the result of all employees working together to provide transparent and honest administration that residents can trust, despite the difficult circumstances caused by the spread of COVID-19. Moving forward, we will actively promote areas of excellence and carefully monitor and supplement vulnerable areas to firmly establish the status of Integrity Gangdong.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.