Yeoju City Achieves '3-Year Consecutive Excellence' in 2024 National Integrity Evaluation by Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Um In-yong] Yeoju City announced on the 30th that it has achieved three consecutive years of outstanding results in the 2024 Comprehensive Integrity Evaluation for Public Institutions conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

The city uniquely achieved two consecutive years of Grade 1 integrity rating within the province in 2023, and while this year's result is Grade 2, no Grade 1 institutions exist among the 75 municipal-level cities nationwide, making it de facto the highest rating achieved consecutively.

The city achieved a score 11.1 points higher than the average for municipal-level cities in the integrity effort category, receiving perfect scores in 6 out of 7 total evaluation items, demonstrating the strength of outstanding anti-corruption initiatives.

Notably, all public officials of Yeoju City, including Mayor Lee Chung-woo, who has a civil service background, and Vice Mayor Cho Jung-ah, received perfect scores in the evaluation of intensive improvement outcomes in corruption-vulnerable areas based on the leadership's interest and efforts—a core evaluation item for integrity efforts—with a score 19.6 points higher than the city average, receiving recognition for substantive integrity practice efforts.

Additionally, to improve corruption-vulnerable areas, the city has conducted substantive integrity practices through continuous operation of an 'Integrity Council' organized under the leadership of the agency head as an integrity leader, and ongoing strengthening of anti-corruption infrastructure for fair and honest administrative implementation.

According to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission's 2024 Comprehensive Integrity Evaluation results, integrity perception has declined compared to the previous year across local autonomous entities in general, with particularly steep drops in internal perception. However, Yeoju City scored 4.1 points higher than the municipal-level city group average in external perception surveys targeting citizens, and 1.5 points higher than the city group average in internal perception surveys targeting civil servants, indicating that steady efforts to spread integrity culture have gained resonance with both citizens and public officials.

Additionally, the city has not incurred a single deduction point due to corruption incidents within the organization for three consecutive years, proving that the voluntary self-correction efforts of approximately 1,200 public officials toward realizing 'Integrity Yeoju' continue endlessly across all sectors.

Mayor Lee Chung-woo of Yeoju stated, "Going forward, we will establish more challenging and substantive integrity policies that both citizens and public officials can resonate with and be satisfied by, advancing toward 'Happy City Hopeful Yeoju' worthy of trust through integrity and kindness."