Guro-gu, Reasons Behind Receiving the Highest Grade Among Districts in Public Institution Integrity Evaluation?

District Mayor Lee Seong Emphasizes 'Integrity' as Top Priority for Public Officials, Implements Various Anti-Corruption Policies; Achieves Grade 2 in Comprehensive Integrity by Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, Internal Integrity Maintains Grade 2 for 8 Consecutive Years

Lee Sung, Guro-gu Mayor

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Seong) achieved excellent results in the public institution integrity evaluation conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

Guro-gu announced on the 14th, "We obtained an overall grade 2 in the integrity evaluation conducted on 580 public institutions nationwide," adding, "Since no autonomous district in the country received grade 1, this effectively corresponds to the highest grade."

The public institution integrity evaluation is conducted by calculating grades from 1 to 5 based on survey results from civil petitioners who used public services and internal employees, as well as the status of corruption occurrences.

As a result of the evaluation, Guro-gu scored 8.70 in external integrity, up 0.45 from last year; 8.17 in internal integrity, up 0.14; and 8.53 in overall integrity combining internal and external scores, up 0.34, which is higher than the overall average of 8.27.

In particular, internal integrity has maintained grade 2 for eight consecutive years since 2013.

Guro-gu has implemented various integrity policies such as the ‘Integrity Certification System’ that certifies individuals and departments upon achieving certain target goals, the ‘Ombudsman Hearing Attendance System’ that allows ombudsmen to attend hearings conducted before administrative sanctions, and regular education to enhance employees' integrity mindset. They also established a detailed recall system including integrity text messages, mobile surveys, and integrity happy calls to ensure transparent and fair handling of tasks.

Additionally, Guro-gu newly established the Citizens’ Audit Ombudsman System, the first among basic local governments nationwide, allowing audits up to the mayor level. To eradicate the culture of hospitality, they created an integrity meal ticket system, enhancing trust in construction management, supervision, and contract fields.

These efforts by Guro-gu originated from the exemplary leadership of Mayor Lee Seong. Right after taking office in 2010, Mayor Lee attracted attention by reducing his office space from the previous 108㎡ to one-third, 34㎡. Instead of replacing the official vehicle used by his predecessor with a new one, he used it for seven more years and later replaced it with a compact electric car when frequent breakdowns made replacement inevitable.

He has always emphasized integrity as the top value for public officials to employees and has worked hard to create an honest and corruption-free public service environment.

As a result, Guro-gu also received the S grade, awarded only to the top 5% of institutions, for three consecutive years in the ‘2020 Autonomous Internal Control Operation Evaluation’ conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

District Mayor Lee Seong attracted attention immediately after taking office in 2010 by reducing the office space from the original 108㎡ to 34㎡, which is one-third the size.

A Guro-gu official said, "Achieving overall grade 2 in integrity this time is the result of joint efforts by residents and public officials for a fair society," adding, "We will continue to do our best to make Guro the ‘No.1 Integrity City.’"

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