Korea saw improvements in the 2020 annual review of corruption in Asia for two consecutive years

- Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. baseds in Hong Kong released the result of the Annual Review of Corruption in Asia for 2020 in which Korea ranked sixth out of 16 countries, reentering into the 5-point range in its score for the first time in nine years -

March 27, 2020

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

In the “Annual Review of Corruption in Asia” released on March 25 by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy, Ltd. (PERC), the international business consulting agency, Korea ranked sixth out of 16 countries with a score of 5.54 points (the lower, the cleaner) out of 10.

Korea’s rating improved by 0.62 points, rising by two notches in the ranking year on year. Korea re-entered the five-point range for the first time in nine years since 2011 (5.90 points).

By country, Singapore and Australia ranked first and second, respectively, with Macau, the United States and China ranking behind Korea.

* (2016) 6.17 → (2017) 6.38 → (2018) 6.63 → (2019) 6.16 →(2020) 5.54

PERC publishes the Annual Review of Corruption in Asia every year through a survey of business people engaged in business activities in 16 Asian countries, including the United States and Australia, on how they perceive the problem of corruption in the countries in which they are working. Grades are scaled from zero to 10, with zero indicating the best grade possible and 10 the worst.

* PERC conducted the survey in February and the first 20 days of March, and there were a total of 1,798 responses (with at least 100 responses from each country).

In particular, as an individual source index reflected in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI), PERC’s “Annual Review of Corruption in Asia” is a corruption index recognized internationally as well.

Given that Korea received more favorable rating in the Annual Review of Corruption in Asia for 2020 again following the Transparency International’s CPI for 2019 released last Januaryin which Korea saw improvements, the international community’s perception of corruption in Korea seems to be improving positively in recent months.

According to PERC’s Annual Review released this time, Korea together with Hong Kong is considered to be a country that has seen the sharpest improvements in the perception of corruption.

PERC evaluated very positively the ACRC’s efforts to promote anti-corruption policies, which have led to the implementation of various policies* to reduce corruption problems at various ministries within the government.

* ▲ enforcement of inheritance taxes to weaken the power and control of the chaebol founding families (NTS) ▲ enactment of three kindergarten bills (Education Ministry) ▲ passage of bills to reform the office of the state prosecution, which include giving more investigative power to the police and establishing an independent anti-corruption investigative agency (Justice Ministry)

The ACRC Chairperson Pak Un Jong said, “We believe the Annual Review of Corruption in Asia released by PERC this time reflects the results of the joint anti-corruption efforts by the public and private sector. We will not settle for the results, but will do our best as an anti-corruption control tower in the nation to fulfill the duty of anti-corruption reform for fairer society to raise the nation’s integrity level.”

 Korea scored 5.54 points out of 10, ranking sixth among 16 countries.

- Korea saw improvements in its grade by 0.62 points, rising two notches in the ranking compared to last year.

* Macau (7th) and the United States (8th) fell behind Korea that has seen improvements for two consecutive years since 2019.

< Results of Annual Review of Corruption in Asia by Year>

(On a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the best score possible, 10 the worst)

※ Scoresby Country