[HS] Seoul City tops transparency survey

By Kang Hyun-kyung The general public and civil servants gave the highest score to Seoul City among local administrations in the latest transparency survey of 711 government entities and state-run firms. On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was one of the public entities whose transparency level hit a low point this year, according to a survey of 226,000 people by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC). Interestingly enough, employees of the foreign ministry answered that the transparency level in their workplace was “very poor,” while the general public found it “satisfactory.” Pollsters asked those who experienced public services offered by Cabinet ministries, education authorities, local governments and state-run firms to give their opinions on the transparency of the entities by selecting one out of five levels _ excellent, good, satisfactory, poor and very poor. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 0.02 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Among local governments, Seoul was unrivaled in the survey. The Ministry of Government Legislation and the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs were picked as the two most transparent ministries. Among public firms, the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) topped the list. The Jeju Province Office of Education came first in the poll of education authorities. An ACRC official said the entities having achieved high scores in the poll have one thing in common: Their leaders put anti-corruption efforts first. Korea Research and Hankook Research conducted the survey over the past three months. The timing of the survey coincided with the period when the foreign ministry was under heavy criticism for a nepotism scandal involving former Minister Yu Myung-hwan. Yu resigned after press reported that the ministry hired his daughter for a plum job in the ministry because of family ties. Another ACRC official told reporters on condition of anonymity that the nepotism row appeared to have been the cause of the ministry’s poor result in the transparency survey. Public entities that were involved in bribery scandals or similar incidents, such as the Seoul Office of Education and Seongnam City, also received poor results in the survey. The ACRC will request the public entities that showed poor results to come up with follow-up plans to fight corruption next year. The anti-corruption body also plans to organize transparency education for high-ranking government officials and management at state-run firms.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr