[Best Anti-Corruption Policy]

Integrity in action, a culture of integrity created together

- Korea Southern Power Co., Ltd. (KOSPO) Is enforcing integrity policies in which employees and executives can participate together, such as ▲ Corruption case trial experience program, ▲ Integrity enhancement division and integrity keepers, etc. -

May 8, 2020

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

Korea Southern Power Co., Ltd. (KOSPO) is paving the way for a culture of integrity to take root within the organization by promoting participatory anti-corruption policies which enable executives and employees to take part, such as the operation of “Corruption Case Trial Experience Program”, and “Integrity Enhancement Division and Integrity Keepers,” etc.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong) has been discovering and spreading best practices by agency and sector so that public and private sectors can use them to establish and promote integrity policies.

KOSPO has been maintaining Grade 1 or 2 for the last three years in the Anti-Corruption Initiative Assessment (AIA) that assesses the level of anti-corruption efforts by public institution. In last year’s assessment, it earned Grade 2, up 1 notch from the previous year.

KOSPO has prevented corruption case from occurring by keeping its executives and employees and aware of corruption through running “Corruption Case Trial Experience Program”.

In addition, KOSPO has operated the “Integrity Enhancement Division” and “Integrity Keepers,” while holding an idea contest aimed at improving corruption-causing regulations to promote direct participation from executives and employees in the organization’s anti-corruption activities.

(Corruption Case Trial Experience Program) In order to its executives and employees to corruption, KOSPO is running the “Corruption Case Trial Experience Program” and holding an essay contest on personal experiences of corruption case trial to share such experiences with all employees.

Senior executives, officers in charge of handling contract affairs or material inspection affairs in the Customer Service Division, and employees interested in a corruption case trial can attend a trial on corruption charges, such as bribes, improper solicitations and embezzlement, etc. Since last year, KOSPO has expanded the program to invite participation from its partners interested in it.

After attending the trial, participants are invited to enter an essay contest on personal experiences of the trial to share their thoughts and future resolutions, and best-written essays are selected to be shared among all employees.

< Sample Essays on Personal Experiences of Trial on Corruption Cases >

KOSPO has continued to expand the scope of participants since it started the program in 2016, running it 15 times in total last year for 199 participants. Other agencies such as Jeonnam Development Corporation and Busan Infrastructure Corporation, etc. have also introduced this program and been running it for their executives and employees.

KOSPO executives and employees who attended the trials through this experience program expressed their thoughts in their essays that “it gave me an opportunity to renew my mindset as a public official,” indicating that the program has established itself as a representative integrity policy of the organization.

(Integrity Enhancement Division and Integrity Keepers) KOSPO is operating the “Integrity Enhancement Division” and “Integrity Keepers” in order for all employees to be more interested in putting a virtue of integrity into action, thereby facilitating participation in integrity policies promoted by the organization.

Above all, KOSPO designates a division to take a lead in enhancing integrity within the organization each month and assigns a task to perform its own anti-corruption activities. KOSPO also holds an event for all employees to exchange a high-five on their way to work to solidify their will to put integrity into practice, and organizes events to facilitate internal communication, such as Integrity Quiz, Integrity Darts Game, Outreach Integrity Promotion Campaign, etc.

In addition, KOSPO selected an employee who is regarded as a role model for transparent and fair performance of duty as an integrity keeper on a daily basis and gave him/her an integrity badge, and posted various anti-corruption materials on its internal integrity archives to share them with all employees.

< Major activities of Integrity Enhancement Division and Integrity Keepers >

Anti-corruption practices performed by internal employees are posted on KOSPO online communication channel to be shared with other employees, in order to foster a culture of integrity within the organization.

(Contest for Ideas to Revise Corruption-Related Regulations) KOSPO invites its employees to present ideas for improving its corruption-causing regulations, if any, and reflects the ideas submitted to remove corruption risk factors in advance.

KOSPO received 45 ideas in total and selected 8 ideas among these to push for the revision of its internal regulations with regard to affairs of contract, personnel management or recruitment, and budget execution.

Major revisions include: exclusion of a team leader in charge of planning the project concerned when organizing the members of the deliberation committee of sanctions against inappropriate business entity; mandatory participation of outside experts when organizing the members of the deliberation committee of venture businesses; and establishment of the criteria for paying travel expenses to non-employees.

ACRC Anti-Corruption Bureau General Director Lim Yoon Ju said, “The two-way anti-corruption policies promoted by KOSPO through participation and communication among its employees and executives have contributed to creating a culture of integrity within the organization, and I hope to see the wide spread of the anti-corruption culture in public institutions of various levels through promoting integrity policies where in and outside interested parties participate together.”