www.transparency-korea.org                  

 

 

 

 

(Seoul, 25. January 2017) In the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International (TI) today, South Korea was ranked 52 out of 176 countries, receiving 53 out of 100 scores – on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). Since the start of the survey in 1995 South Korea has experienced the greatest decline. It has dropped 15 points compared to the 37th rank published in 2015. In the OECD rankings, South Korea now ranks 29th out of 35 countries, which is a much lower score than in 2015 (26th).

 

What is more striking is that the current CPI doesn’t reflect South Korea’s presidential scandal which has been controversial in recent months. Amongst the 13 sources used to design the 2016 CPI, nine sources cover South Korea. Their data reflect the period from November 2014 until September 2016. 

 

The Corruption Perceptions Index was developed in order to encourage interest and resolve the corruption problems by investigating and publicizing the perception level from experts on public sector corruption all over the world. The results evaluated by international experts in 2016 show the increase of corruption in South Korea’s public sector. Prior to the presidential scandal, South Korea experienced a number of structural corruption cases in 2016, such as bribery through e.g. sponsorship amongst people in power. 

 

You Han-Beom, Executive Director of Transparency International-Korea (TI-Korea): “When Kim Young-ran law was finally implemented in 2016, there was great expectation for a new South Korea. However, when the Choi Soon-sil scandal got revealed, we have realized that our national laws and policies have failed. Our policies have become a means of securing the private interests of presidential aides, and the Chaebols’ self-interests have been revived. The existence of a so-called blacklist for artists who are critical to the government seriously infringes on freedom of thought and conscience and has brought the Republic of Korea back to where it was 30 years ago.”

 

“Now, the impeachment trial against Park Geun-hye, the turning-point of all these events, is under way, but apart from that, we have to start all over again”, says You Han-Beom. “Starting again precisely means making the responsible people and groups for this situation to take into account for their actions and to rebuild the corrupted, national anti-corruption and integrity system.”

 

“Besides civil society organizations, it must be emphasized that it’s our society’s major concern, which also involves government, political parties and private companies, to establish a new, corruption-free system based on a new commitment. In particular, the presidential election scheduled for this year should be a key event for this objective.”

 

Transparency International-Korea strongly recommends the following anti-corruption policies to rebuild the national anti-corruption laws and to promote transparency: 

 

1) Establish an independent anti-corruption body in accordance with Article VI of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

 

2) A high-ranking and independent ombudsman should be established in order to ensure an independent investigation on corrupt practices of senior officials. In addition, the reform of the criminal prosecution and law enforcement must be achieved in order to prevent the abuse of a prosecuter’s power.

 

3) It is necessary to rebuild the national ethical infrastructure, which is filled with corrupt practices, including the practices of “revolving door greetings” and parachute personnel employment.

 

4) The government should improve its transparency, should ensure the people’s right to know, and should revise the Information Disclosure Act and the Records Management Act to facilitate the monitoring of corrupt activities.

 

(5) Before attempting to fully enforce the Anti-Illegal Solicitation Law (Kim Young-ran Law), which has been prepared for a long period of time, we must immediately stop the attempts to mitigate or weaken it but on the other hand should strive to work hard together to improve its usefulness.

 

6) In order to improve corporate governance and to overcome corrupt practices, corporate corruption prevention laws should be enacted and punitive damages and compensations should be introduced to corrupt corporations.

 

7) In order to protect the whistle-blowing at e.g. private schools, the protection laws of public prosecutors should be amended to extend the scope of protection for whistleblowers. 

 

8) Integrity education should be extended to all levels.

 

9) In line with the anti-corruption action plan adopted at the G20 Summit, collaborative governance of public, business and civil society should be restored.

 

Transparency International is the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption. TI-Korea is its national chapter in the Republic of Korea. 

 

(published at 1 pm Seoul time)

 

Korean Press Release: http://ti.or.kr/xe/

Karoline Richter T: +82 10 2594 2155 E: ka@ti.or.kr 

 

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