Pak Un Jong, Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, is making a keynote speech on September 27th at the seventh session of the Assembly of Parties of the International Anti-Corruption Academy held in Vienna.

The Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) was elected as a member of the Board of Governors of the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) on September 28.

Established in October 2010 in Laxenburg, Austria, IACA is an international organization that conducts anti-corruption education, professional training and research to support the effective implementation of the United Nation's Convention against Corruption and to help countries around the world with their efforts to prevent and fight corruption. Currently, it has a constituency of 74 parties, comprising 71 UN member states and 3 international organizations.

At the seventh session of the Assembly of Parties of IACA held in Vienna, Pak Un Jong, Chairperson of the ACRC, was elected as a board member for a term of five years from November 2019 representing the Asian group. Consisting of eleven members, the Board of Governors is the main governing organ deciding on the strategy, policies and guidelines for the activities of IACA.

The ACRC signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with IACA in March 2012 and the then ACRC Chairperson served as a founding board member of IACA. The ACRC has contributed to the operation of IACA's training programmes by seconding a senior academic expert to IACA since 2014.

Korea's participation in the Board of IACA, the only international organization of its kind, represents the country's willingness to engage in international discussions on anti-corruption issues more actively and to share its experience in preventing and fighting corruption with member countries.

Pak said in her keynote speech that the new government of Korea has been pursuing full-scale anti-corruption reform as top priority based on strong support from Korean people who overcame the recent political crisis in a peaceful and democratic way.

She also announced that in 2020, Korea will host the 19th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) and asked for participation in this global conference.

In her post-election speech, Chairperson Pak said that IACA has played a significant role of supporting the capacity building of anti-corruption practitioners around the world in less than 10 years since its establishment.

She added "based on insights, knowledge, and experience gained as a law professor, head of human rights groups, and Chairperson of the ACRC, I will do my utmost for the successful operation of the Academy."