Suwon Achieves Highest Integrity Rating Among Domestic City-Level Autonomous Districts

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon's efforts to improve integrity have borne fruit.

Suwon announced on the 10th that it received Grade 2 in the '2020 Integrity Evaluation of Public Institutions' conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, a three-level improvement from the previous year.

In this evaluation, no local government among all domestic city-level basic autonomous districts received Grade 1 in overall integrity. In effect, Suwon has achieved the highest integrity rating.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission calculates integrity ratings for public institutions by reflecting the results of internal and external integrity surveys and the occurrence of corruption incidents.

Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young pointed out during an expanded executives meeting in January this year that "the main reasons for Suwon's low external integrity rating last year were semi-coercive fundraising, civil servant abuse of authority, and passive responses to civil complaints," and instructed officials to "comprehensively review what has been done customarily and establish and vigorously pursue a 'comprehensive plan for integrity improvement.'"

On January 22, Suwon held a 'Discussion on Integrity Improvement for High-ranking Civil Servants to Achieve Grade 1 Integrity' presided over by Cho Cheong-sik, First Vice Mayor, and discussed improvement measures.

The causes of poor performance in the 2019 integrity evaluation were analyzed as ▲semi-coercive fundraising ▲unfair and unreasonable contract systems ▲insufficient measures to prevent and eliminate corruption, and Suwon implemented customized policies to address these issues.

The 'Suwon Hwaseong Cultural Festival Citywide Donation Participation Campaign,' which was criticized as an unreasonable practice, was completely suspended. Suwon FC's annual membership ticket sales were blocked from Suwon City involvement.

To improve integrity in the construction project service and contract work sectors, Suwon established and implemented 'six major promotion tasks for contract work improvement,' including ▲setting limits on discretionary contracts by contractor ▲improving contract methods through electronic contracting ▲establishing and operating a dedicated team for contract implementation inspections.

Additionally, Suwon established an integrated budget and accounting management system for 13 partner agencies including Suwon Urban Corporation, Suwon International Exchange Center, Suwon Research Institute of Urban Affairs, Suwon Cultural Foundation, Suwon Convention Center, and Suwon Sustainable City Foundation, enhancing transparency in data management.

Notification letters on misconduct reporting and integrity text messages were sent to 354 construction service companies. Integrity letters were sent to 189 companies performing construction projects. Suggestion channels were also operated to gather opinions on resolving misconduct.

Suwon also promoted measures to improve internal integrity. Based on integrity consulting from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, Suwon identified causes of poor integrity ratings and prepared countermeasures to resolve issues. Corruption risks for executive civil servants were diagnosed, and court proceedings handling civil servant corruption cases were observed. In addition, customized integrity education by rank was conducted five times.

To eliminate misconduct, the reward for reporting misconduct was increased from 10 million won to 100 million won, and the scope of misconduct reporters was expanded to include employees of public-related institutions.

'Guidelines for Gift Card Purchase and Use' were enacted, and 'Manuals Prohibiting Improper Requests, Acceptance of Bribes, etc.' were produced and distributed to ensure civil servants were aware of clear guidelines regarding improper requests.

Mayor Yeom Tae-young stated, "Integrity is an absolutely important value for institutions and members who perform public duties," and urged, "Do not be complacent about the integrity evaluation results, and continue to make endless efforts to improve integrity next year." He added, "I appreciate the civil servants who have worked for integrity improvement and the citizens who have cooperated to spread an integrity culture."