By Kim Yoo-chul
The anti-corruption bodies of South Korea and Qatar signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the field of transparency and integrity, Seoul's anti-corruption agency said Wednesday.
“The anti-corruption bodies of South Korea and Qatar agreed to share experience and best practices in developing transparency and integrity assessment tools,” said Pak Un-jong, chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC).
Both organizations are “preventive anti-corruption bodies” under Article 6 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) that Korea ratified in 2003 and Qatar did in 2007.
Under the MOU, the two bodies will cooperate for the next three years in areas of common interest, including exchanging experience, developing indicators and assessment tools and organizing training and capacity-building programs, the ACRC said.
Since 2002, the Korean government has conducted the Integrity Assessment to measure the integrity level of each public organization, based on a survey of citizens, public officials, businesspeople and experts. The assessment tool received the United Nations Public Service Award in the category of preventing and combating corruption in the public service in 2012.
In partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Korea supported Vietnam in adapting the assessment system to its local context and successfully conducting the first Provincial Anti-Corruption Assessment for all 63 Vietnamese provinces in 2016.