By Lee Kyung-min
Seoul City Council and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) were Korea's two most corrupt institutions, according to a human rights watchdog survey reported Thursday.
The National Human Rights Council (NHRC) conducted two separate surveys, one to evaluate 47 councils nationwide including 17 metropolitan ones, and the other to check on 36 state-run universities.
Seoul City Council was the only metropolitan council to have ranked the lowest. KAIST has been bottom for two consecutive years.
In the first survey, the NHRC asked 19,744 people including those who worked with council officials including councilors, experts, and civic and interest groups, to give their opinion on whether they believed irregularities were involved in the policy-making process.
Most of them said the process was fraught with irregularities including offering someone something in return for favors. Others pointed out they witnessed a great degree of cronyism, nepotism and other personal connections at play in what should have been transparent public affairs.
City or municipal residents mostly criticized counselors using taxpayers' money to go on overseas trips, which in many cases involve tourism rather than official business. The South Gyeongsang Provincial council was the only one that received top marks.
In the second survey, the NHRC asked 12,214 people including faculty members, researchers and those who had business contracts with universities, whether they encountered any irregularities.
According to the results, not one university received the top grade, and six received the lowest: Chonbuk National University, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Kyungpook National University, Seoul National University and KAIST.
The low evaluation of the education institutions comes amid an increase in the number of corruption cases there.
A total of 162 such cases were reported this year so far, up significantly from 67 a year earlier. Misappropriation of school funds allocated for faculty salaries accounted for 42.6 percent of cases, followed by using study projects for something other than the initially declared purpose (18.5 percent) and spending school funds on something other than what they were designated for (16 percent).
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