Seongdong-gu Achieves Nationwide Top-Level Integrity Rating, Consecutive 2nd Grade for 2 Years

‘2020 Public Institution Integrity’ Measurement Results: 2 Consecutive Years of ‘Overall Integrity Grade 2’... 0.24 Points Higher Than National District Average, Top Level Among Districts Without Grade 1... Promoting ‘Integrity in Daily Life’ Through Anonymous Reporting Center Operation and Corruption Risk Management System

Integrity Campaign

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Seongdong-gu (District Mayor Jeong Won-oh) announced on the 9th that it achieved a comprehensive integrity grade of 2 for the second consecutive year in the ‘2020 Public Institution Integrity’ assessment conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, targeting 580 public institutions nationwide.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s integrity assessment selects grades from 1 to 5 based on surveys conducted over the past year with external civil petitioners who visited the district office and internal employees, evaluating factors such as an honest organizational culture, work integrity, and experiences and perceptions of corruption.

The district scored a comprehensive score of 8.55, which is 0.24 points higher than the national average for districts, ranking it at the top level in reality among 69 autonomous districts nationwide, where no district received a grade 1.

In particular, it received high evaluations in the areas of external integrity and corruption incident occurrence status. Compared to the national average for autonomous districts, the external integrity score (8.83 points) is 0.23 points higher than the national average (8.60 points), and the internal integrity score (7.77 points) is 0.22 points higher than the national average (7.55 points).

Seongdong-gu was highly rated for its ‘Integrity in Daily Life’ practice project, which encourages public officials to manage and control their own honest lifestyles to improve integrity.

Especially, the ‘Integrated Anonymous Reporting Center for Abuse of Power, etc.,’ operating since April this year, allows anonymous reporting of corruption and misconduct such as abuse of power by public officials, workplace harassment, human rights violations, and unfair work orders, protecting whistleblowers and working to prevent corruption and eradicate public service misconduct.

Additionally, last year, it became the first local government nationwide to obtain the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Anti-Corruption Management System (ISO 37001) certification and passed the follow-up audit this year, systematically managing potential corruption risks within the organization.

Furthermore, the district promotes integrity projects that encourage voluntary integrity among all employees, including ▲anti-corruption and integrity online education for all staff ▲self-diagnosis of integrity and abuse behaviors ▲integrity OX quiz events ▲correct understanding of the public officials’ code of conduct ▲publication of integrity e-newsletters ▲operation of integrity happy calls.

Moreover, in September, the district achieved an A grade, ranking within the top 5-15% among 243 local governments nationwide, in the autonomous internal control system, one of the integrity policy activities evaluated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The autonomous internal control evaluation is a system designed to prevent administrative errors and corruption that may occur during work processes by public officials themselves in advance and to enhance the legality and transparency of administration, contributing to the creation of an honest organizational culture.

Jeong Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “Despite the difficult situation of the COVID-19 pandemic spread, it is significant that the comprehensive integrity grade has been 2 for two consecutive years and the comprehensive integrity score has increased for three consecutive years. Integrity (淸廉) is not something completed by only some members of an organization, but only possible when each member manages their own honest life. We will actively promote anti-corruption and integrity projects to foster an honest organizational culture going forward.”

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