By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
South Korea made moderate strides on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Transparency International (TI) said Tuesday.
This year, Korea earned a score of 5.5 out of 10 in the 2009 CPI, ranking 39th among 180 countries in the world and 22nd among the 30 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the world's anti-corruption watcher said in its 2009 Global Corruption Report.
Last year, Korea ranked 40th among 180 contenders and 22nd among OECD members.
The index indicates the degree of perceived public sector corruption according to businessmen. The higher the score, the freer a country is from corruption.
Among countries with smaller economies than Korea, Uruguay, Chile and the Dominican Republic were ahead.
TI said a series of moves by the Lee Myung-bak administration to remove or scale down anti-corruption campaigns contributed to its low score, which falls behind the OECD average of 7.04.
Korea's poor showing was a foregone conclusion. In a report released last month, the international anti-corruption body raised concerns over Korea's stagnated anti-corruption campaign. The statement was a precursor to its global rankings.
"Legal reforms have taken a slide," TI said. It said the merger of the Independent Anti-corruption Commission with two other agencies in 2008 significantly diluted its role, which, in turn, affected its ability to focus on anti-corruption initiatives.
"The commission's independence has also been undermined, as nearly all members are appointed by the president," TI said.
South Korea had hovered around 4.0 since 2000, but climbed to 5.0 in 2005 after it launched the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption, which has now been merged with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.
TI said the one-point gain was due to factors such as foreign investment and a rise in average income.
New Zealand ranked first for the second-consecutive year, followed by Denmark, Sweden and Singapore, in that order.
Since its founding in 1993, TI has played a role to improve the lives around the world by building the momentum for the anti-corruption movement. It has also focused on raising awareness and diminishing the tolerance of corruption.