South Korea has most improved transparency in Asia-Pacific

Citizens in South Korea perceive the most improved level of transparency on matters of corruption among Asian Pacific nations, according to an annual report from Transparency International.

TI-Korea, the Korean national chapter of the organization, said yesterday that South Korea has shown consistent progress in advancing transparency from 1999, but still has "a long way to go" to overcome its "shameful figures."

Korea scored 5.0 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, measured on a scale of 0 to 10, 10 being the highest and most transparent. Korea moved up the ranks to 40th place out of 159 countries this year from 47th out of 146 countries last year. In 1999, Korea scored 3.8 on the CPI and ranked 50th place among 99 countries.

The CPI measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index taken from the results of 16 different surveys conducted on each country`s public officials, business people and country analysts. In the surveys, corruption is defined as the abuse of public offices for private gain.

The surveys asks questions relating to examples of corruption such as bribe-taking by public officials in public procurement.

TI headquarters in Germany indicated Korea as the "highlight of the Asia-Pacific region" and said "efforts to establish legal and policy measures against corruption" accounted for such improvements, giving examples of the founding of Korean Independent Commission Against Corruption and Pact on Anti-Corruption and Transparency.

TI-Korea, however, said the CPI of 5.0 is "a shameful score regarding our nation`s Gross Domestic Product level and size of economy, ranking behind Malaysia."

South Korea ranked 8th place among 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific and 22nd among 30 members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

"Many Koreans think that we have less corruption and more transparency, but the perception of other countries is relatively worse than our self-perception. This is because of the differences in the way countries measure corruption and transparency," said Kim Geo-sung, Vice Chairman of TI-Korea.

Kim gave the example of the different perceptions of what constitutes a bribe. "Fifty percent of foreign CEOs in Korea said in interviews that they have received or witnessed bribes; what foreigners may consider a bribe may not be the case for Koreans. For example, being treated to a meal would not be considered a bribe for Koreans," he said.

TI-Korea said three things are necessary to overcome corruption in Korea: implementation of anti-corruption conventions, specifically the Pact on Anti-Corruption and Transparency in Korea, enforcement of anti-corruption education in all areas of society, and the ratification of United Nations Convention Against Corruption treaty.

More than two thirds of 159 nations surveyed scored less than 5 out of 10 on the CPI, and nearly half of the countries scored less than 3, indicating serious levels of corruption in a majority of countries.

"The 2005 Index bears witness to the double burden of poverty and corruption borne by the world`s least developed countries," said TI in a press release.

The countries that scored the lowest on the CPI were also among the poorest countries in the world, for example, Chad, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Haiti. TI said that corruption hampers the achievement of Millennium Development Goals by undermining economic growth and sustainable development which would free the countries from poverty.

These countries were also among those with the lowest foreign investment, "further thwarting their chance to prosper", said TI. TI said that low levels of CPI should not discourage foreign investment; it should only suggest that "investment is needed in systemic approaches to fight corruption" in such countries.

TI noted that wealth does not necessarily determine progress against corruption, as the examples of Canada and Ireland showed increased CPI despite being higher-income countries.

Meanwhile, progress has been made in countries such as Estonia, France, Japan, Jordan Nigeria and Turkey, among others. The recent ratification of UNCAC established a legal framework for sustainable progress against corruption, and will be implemented starting December this year.

UNCAC measures include accelerating the retrieval of stolen funds, pushing banking centres to take action against money laundering, and allowing nations to pursue corrupt foreign companies and individuals on their soil, and prohibiting bribery of foreign public officials.

(jkwon@heraldm.com)



By Kwon Ji-young