This Year, 117 Institutions Including the Korea Forest Service and the Ministry of Government Legislation Selected as 'Top Performers in Comprehensive Information Disclosure Evaluation'

Public Institutions 2021 Information Disclosure Comprehensive Evaluation Results Released

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety selected the Korea Forest Service and Seodaemun District Office of Seoul as outstanding institutions in a comprehensive evaluation of the information disclosure performance of public institutions from September 2020 to August this year.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 27th, this evaluation was conducted on a total of 593 institutions including central administrative agencies, local governments, and public institutions, and 117 were selected as top institutions. The evaluation results will be disclosed to the public after deliberation by the Information Disclosure Committee and reporting to the Cabinet meeting.

The evaluation consists of 10 indicators across 4 areas, and four grades were assigned based on the ranking and scores by institution type. Notably, this year, the target for the pre-disclosure area’s information list disclosure rate was changed from documents cumulatively produced since 2012 to documents produced during the evaluation period. Additionally, in the request processing area, the penalty method for delayed request processing was changed from a per-case deduction to a ratio-based deduction to improve fairness in the evaluation indicators.

Looking specifically at the evaluation results, the overall average score for the comprehensive information disclosure evaluation was 85.1 points, showing a significant increase compared to the previous evaluation, and the number of underperforming institutions has continuously decreased over the past three years, indicating an improvement in operational levels. By institution type, average scores increased across all types, with the largest increase seen in previously vulnerable city/county/district offices and local public institutions.

By evaluation area, the pre-disclosure and request disclosure areas performed excellently, and the scores for original document disclosure and customer management areas also increased compared to the previous year. Examining outstanding operational cases by institution, the Korea Forest Service received high scores in the pre-disclosure information area. In particular, it provided ‘citizen-customized pre-information’ by classifying disclosed information according to information type and usage purpose, enhancing public accessibility to pre-disclosed information.

The Seodaemun District Office of Seoul achieved excellent results through cooperative governance. By actively incorporating local residents’ opinions, it continuously ensured that information needed by residents was disclosed, such as adding an Excel download function for business promotion expenses information.

Based on the comprehensive information disclosure evaluation results, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to provide detailed guidance on necessary improvements for each evaluated institution and conduct customized consulting for underperforming and interested institutions to improve information disclosure operations.

Minister Jeon Hae-cheol stated, “Strengthening the public’s right to know and ensuring transparency in national administration can be achieved through the sound operation of the information disclosure system,” and added, “We will work to further improve the information disclosure operation levels of public institutions through the comprehensive information disclosure evaluation.”

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