Comprehensive Integrity Assessment of Local Councils Conducted for the First Time... "In-depth Analysis of Corruption Cases"

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Announces Basic Plan for Comprehensive Integrity Evaluation

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on the 6th that it will conduct a comprehensive integrity assessment for all local councils for the first time to improve the integrity levels of local councils, which were found to be relatively low compared to other public institutions last year.

Jeong Seung-yoon, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Jeong Seung-yoon, Vice Chairman and Secretary General, stated at a briefing on the "2024 Comprehensive Integrity Assessment Basic Plan" held at the Government Seoul Office Annex, “We have finalized the basic plan that sets the fundamental direction, target institutions, and evaluation indicators for this year’s comprehensive integrity assessment. This year’s assessment will cover 718 institutions, and the evaluation system will calculate and announce the overall integrity grade by reflecting the results from three areas: perceived integrity, integrity efforts, and corruption status evaluation.”

The Commission plans to comprehensively evaluate anti-corruption policy implementation by receiving anti-corruption promotion plans from each local council, assessing the concreteness and appropriateness of these policies, the implementation of tasks such as preventing wasteful spending of local council members’ legislative allowances, the operation status of anti-corruption laws and systems including the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, and the completion rate of integrity education.

To focus on improving the integrity levels of metropolitan governments and education offices, which showed high rates of corruption incidents in last year’s comprehensive integrity assessment, the Commission will conduct an in-depth analysis of corruption incidents that occurred during the current heads’ terms, separately from the existing corruption status evaluation area.

A new indicator has been introduced to promote the sharing and dissemination of excellent anti-corruption policies implemented by administrative agencies and public-related organizations at all levels, aiming to enhance the integrity level in the public sector. Additionally, through the continuous operation of indicators for establishing a fair recruitment operation foundation and strengthening the enforcement of public finance recovery systems, the Commission aims to support the smooth implementation of national policy tasks.

The Commission will finalize the detailed implementation plan after next month and announce the evaluation results in December this year. Vice Chairman Jeong emphasized, “While maintaining the basic direction of the comprehensive integrity assessment system continuously, we have prepared the basic plan to enable institutions at all levels to focus their capabilities on areas requiring urgent improvement. We will strive to operate the comprehensive integrity assessment effectively so that it can serve as a driving force leading the integrity of public institutions.”

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