Anti-Corruption Korean Wave Hits Southeast Asia
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea is well-known as an exporter of vehicles, ships and semiconductors. But now, it can be described as an exporter of anti-corruption programs as it is sharing its own transparency-making policies with foreign countries, especially those in Southeast Asia.
At the center of this fruitful achievement is the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), which is spearheading campaigns to eradicate corruption by devising anti-corruption systems and sharing its knowhow.
ACRC Chairman Lee Jae-oh helped diffuse Korea's transparency-making initiatives through his recent trips to three Southeast Asian countries that hope to share Korea's experiences and knowledge for a corruption-free society.
Indonesia
He flew to Indonesia last Tuesday and inspected a test-run of a Korean-made system to measure the transparency level of public organizations.
The method to scrutinize about 500 offices and public institutions every year is a model anti-corruption scheme designed and initiated by the commission eight years ago.
The commission agreed to share this scheme with the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission three years ago.
During his visit, Lee also promised to offer on-site consultations on ways to find factors that cause corruption and help stop spreading temptation to those in officialdom from this year.
Since the ACRC signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on providing corruption-eradicating skills in 2006, it has invited about 100 Indonesian officials and taught its anti-corruption polices and education programs.
The Southeast Asian country targeted about 30 organizations in the initial stage of the Korean-made system and has scanned every office and institution since 2008.
Vietnam
Last Wednesday, ACRC Chairman Lee traveled to Vietnam and signed an MOU on cooperation in preventing and eradicating corruption with Vu Tien Chien, chief of the Office of Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption.
The two offices will exchange information and documents to fight corruption, and co-host symposiums, forums and workshops.
"With the MOU, I expect the two organizations will enhance their capacity of eradicating corruption by sharing experiences and knowledge regarding anti-corruption campaigns," Lee said.
The two sides also agreed to establish a coordination committee in order to consistently have consultations for further cooperation.
Mongolia
After his trip to Vietnam, the ACRC chairman visited Mongolia, where he signed a MOU on preventing corruption with Chimgee Sangaragchaa, commissioner general of the Independent Authority Against Corruption.
As a result of the trips, a total of six countries, including Bhutan, Bangladesh and Thailand are benchmarking Korea's anti-corruption policies, according to the commission.
Korea's Campaign
The ACRC and its predecessor, the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption (KICAC), created useful tools to fight and prevent irregularities.
Its Corruption Impact Assessment is an analytical assessment system used to get rid of corruption-causing factors in unreasonable regulations.
The Corruption Impact Assessment Model is another assessment to examine corruption factors in regulations in terms of supply, demand and procedure. This model consists of six categories and 13 sub-items.
The commission notes that its Integrity Assessment is a scientific and systematic approach to combat corruption.
It was designed to rate an integrity level and thus, encourage public organizations to make voluntary offers to eradicate irregularities.
It also conducts an annual survey to gauge the public perception on corruption.
Based on the survey results, the anti-corruption agency provides organizations that get low grades with consultations and detailed tips to boost their transparency.
Additionally, the commission has presented an Anti-Corruption Initiative Evaluation that evaluates the implementation of corruption-prevention measures undertaken by public organizations.
As the system diagnoses the level of their efforts and involvement in the government's transparency-making drive, it is expected to enhance the effectiveness of the government's anti-corruption initiatives and promote voluntary efforts.
The commission began to share its knowhow in earnest as it gained support from the U.N. Development Program (UNDP).
As part of efforts to spread the anti-corruption drive, the international organization adopted the Convention Against Corruption, which highlights the prevention of dishonesty.
It also gave the ACRC $9.5 million in a bid to help the office share anti-corruption efforts with other countries.
With the help from the UNDP, the commission began to share anti-corruption experiences and offer tips to prevent temptations with Bhutan and Bangladesh about two years ago.
Civil Complaints
During his visit to Indonesia, Chairman Lee signed an MOU on mutual cooperation in resolving civil complaints and improving the rights of Koreans living there.
Following the MOU, Indonesia's Ombudsman will inform Koreans or companies there of processes or results regarding petitions they file.
The ACRC will also collect civil petitions related to Indonesia's administration and pass them to related government agencies via direct mail or e-mail, the commission said.
Likewise, the commission will help Indonesians living here resolve their complaints.
It has handled civil grievances and advised legal solutions through its online petition center, www.epeople.go.kr, in four foreign languages: English, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese.
It plans to provide the same service in Indonesian soon.
The commission said it is also considering opening a petition section for Mongolians on the Web site as a request was made to ACRC Chairman Lee during a meeting with the Mongolian National Assembly speaker.
After his visits to the Southeast Asian countries, Lee ordered commission officials to provide the petition service in more foreign languages and devise ways to enhance the rights of overseas Koreans.
The ACRC was launched in February 2008, through the merger of the KICAC, the Ombudsman of Korea and the Administrative Appeals Commission.
The independent body is seeking to provide citizens with a one-stop service of addressing public complaints, filing administrative appeals and fighting corruption in a more convenient and effective manner.
ACRC Chairman Lee took office last October and is showing brisk activity. He was elected regional chief of the International Ombudsman Institute a month after he assumed the ACRC chairmanship.
For the next three years, he will serve as head of the Asian regional chapter of the institute, which was established in 1978 for cooperation, and information exchange among Ombudsman organizations.
Currently, 150 members from more than 75 countries belong to the international organization.