'No transparency, no growth'

UN forum seeks new roles for corporations

By Park Si-soo

Many Korean companies stand shoulder-to-shoulder with international rivals in terms of quality of products and services, but they still fall far behind in terms of anti-corruption efforts, raising questions over their sustainable growth, said Lee Seung-han, president of the U.N. Global Compact (UNGC) Korea Network, Tuesday.

The former Homeplus chairman called on Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and other major private and public enterprises here to step up efforts to increase transparency in business otherwise they will soon lose growth momentum. Lee is often seen as a corporate activist who tries to marry innovation with growth.

To that end, he noted that CEOs should be committed to making the necessary changes.

“CEOs play the most important role in pushing anti-corruption drives forward,” he told The Korea Times at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, on the sidelines of the UNGC Korea Leaders Summit 2015. “They should be committed to changing their companies in a way that they become increasingly transparent and corruption-free.”

Lee’s call for transparency comes at a time when one corruption scandal after another has hit the nation.

The latest concerned businessman Sung Woan-jong who killed himself after leaving a list of people he said took bribes from him. As a result, Lee Wan-koo had to step down as prime minister, while the probe is likely to now focus on three former and incumbent presidential chiefs of staff under President Park Geun-hye.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the summit and delivered a key note speech in which he urged Korea to be more cooperative with U.N.-initiated campaigns to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Other VIP guests included Global Green Growth Institute Council Chairman Suslio Banbang Yudhoyono, and John Elkington, the cofounder of Volans.

The UNGC is a United Nations initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and then report on their implementation. One of the key principles of the initiative is anti-corruption work.

UNGC Korea Network, chaired by Lee, is responsible for implementing the campaign in Korea.

A total of 283 companies here have pledged to revamp their business practices and culture in accordance with the initiative. Lee aims to bring 1,000 companies, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, into the framework by 2020.

In addition, Lee is working to set up a new business evaluation system, in which companies’ commitment to anti-corruption is considered an important factor in evaluating their global competitiveness and growth potential.

“It’s obvious that corrupt companies cannot grow sustainably,” he said. “If major credit rating agencies and investors embrace the system and apply it consistently, companies will voluntarily fight against unlawful practices challenging their competitiveness.”