31 Public Institutional Bodies Under Gyeonggi Province Record Overall Integrity Score of 8.59... Gyeonggi Research Institute Achieves Top Grade

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] The Gyeonggi Province Audit Committee (Chairman Ahn Sang-seop, hereinafter "Committee"), a collegial administrative body, announced on the 23rd that it recorded an overall integrity score of 8.59 points out of 10 in the '2024 Overall Integrity Evaluation' conducted on 31 public institutional bodies under Gyeonggi Province. This represents a 0.02 point increase from 8.57 points in 2023.

Since 2015, the Committee has been conducting comprehensive integrity evaluations to diagnose integrity levels at each institution and identify and improve corruption-vulnerable areas through objective and fair evaluations of affiliated public institutional bodies—the first such initiative nationwide.

In 2024, evaluations were conducted by dividing institutions into Group I with 80 or more current employees (13 institutions) and Group II with fewer than 80 current employees (14 institutions) based on institutional size and characteristics. Four institutions with fewer than 10 current employees or established within the past year (Group IV) underwent anti-corruption capability assessments, while the Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Group III), which is separately evaluated by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, was excluded from this evaluation.

The overall integrity evaluation was conducted by assessing three categories: 'external perception' evaluated by residents who have experienced administrative services, 'internal perception' evaluated by internal staff members, and 'integrity efforts' evaluating each institution's anti-corruption initiatives, followed by grading from the highest Grade 1 to the lowest Grade 5.

According to the evaluation results, external perception scored 9.62 points, up 0.65 points from the previous year, while internal perception scored 7.56 points, down 0.25 points from the previous year. Integrity efforts scored 10.48 points, up 1.85 points from the previous year. External perception, which surveys residents' work experience with public institutional bodies, and integrity efforts, which measure anti-corruption policy indicators, both increased. However, internal perception—evaluation by internal staff of organizational integrity culture and work procedures—declined. The average overall integrity score of 27 institutions, reflecting deduction items (occurrence of corruption incidents and trust-undermining conduct) in the three evaluation categories, is 8.59 points.

A total of 5,040 residents and 2,408 employees participated in the external and internal perception surveys, with both achieving a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of ±1.30%p (external) and ±1.10%p (internal).

Looking at individual institution results, Gyeonggi Research Institute uniquely achieved Grade 1. Grade 2 was awarded to Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, Gyeonggi Economic Science and Innovation Institute, Gyeonggi Province Jobs Foundation, Gyeonggi Transportation Corporation, Gyeonggi Agriculture and Fisheries Promotion Agency, Gyeonggi Province Social Service Institute, and Gyeonggi Environmental Energy Promotion Agency. Korea Gyeonggi Company, evaluated in the comprehensive integrity evaluation for the first time, received Grade 5.

The results of this overall integrity evaluation are expected to be reflected in the integrity indicator items of the 2025 (2024 performance) public institution management evaluation.

Ahn Sang-seop, Chairman of the Gyeonggi Province Audit Committee, stated: "The comprehensive integrity evaluation of public institutional bodies is conducted to diagnose institutional integrity levels and identify and improve corruption-vulnerable areas to encourage ethical management practices. Through provision of incentives based on the integrity evaluation results of each institution, customized integrity consulting for underperforming institutions, and integrity mentoring for communication between excellent and underperforming institutions, we will strive to meet residents' expectations for integrity."