By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter

South Korea's freedom of speech, corruption levels and other crucial state governance indicators worsened last year, according to the World Bank.

The Washington-based bank reported that freedom of speech in Korea deteriorated in 2006 from a year earlier as an indicator measuring voice and accountability fell to 0.71 from 0.78 during the one year period. The higher the index is, the better the situation.

The report is contained in its ``Worldwide Governance Indicators'' (WGI) report, covering 212 countries around the globe.

There are five governance indicators _ voice and accountability, political stability and absence of major violence and terror, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption.

Korea's index gauging how well the country reins in corruption also decreased to 0.31 last year from 0.47 in 2005, the report said.

Regulatory quality dropped to 0.7 from 0.77 over the same period, indicating the world's 12th largest economy has become a place in which companies and individuals face more difficulties in carrying out business activities.

The bank's assessment of Korea's political stability deteriorated in 2006 as the index fell to 0.42 from 0.55 a year ago, reflecting escalating conflicts between pro-government and opposition political parties. An index measuring the country's rule of law declined to 0.72 last year from 0.78 in 2005.

But it said the Korean government became more efficient last year as its indicator measuring government effectiveness for the country increased to 1.05 from 1.01.

Each year, the bank releases governance indices based on 33 individual data sources and hundreds of variables, capturing the views on governance of tens of thousands of household and corporate survey respondents, as well as hundreds of nongovernmental organizations and public sector experts, and commercial business information providers worldwide.

It said countries around the world, including some of the poorest in Africa, have made significant progress in improving governance and fighting corruption over the decade.

Daniel Kaufmann, director of global governance at the bank, said the gains in countries straddling all six continents are hopeful news. ``Even though our indicators do not constitute a precise international ranking of countries, policymakers and academics agree that good governance matters for economic development.''

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr