Korea falls in corruption rankings
South Korea dropped four notches in a global corruption awareness ranking to place 43rd among 183 nations in 2011, an international watchdog said in its annual report yesterday.According to the Corruption Perceptions Index of 2011 issued by the nongovernmental agency Transparency International (TI), South Korea scored 5.4 on a scale of zero to 10. Zero represents corruption awareness at its worst.
Although the country’s score remained unchanged from the previous year, its ranking skidded by four notches, the report showed.
The index, based on perceived levels of public sector corruption, used data culled from 17 surveys that consider such factors as enforcement of anticorruption laws, access to information and conflicts of interest.
South Korea also fell short of the average of 6.92 for the 34 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The country also trailed such Asian neighbors as Singapore (9.2), Hong Kong (8.4), Japan (8) and Taiwan (6.1), with China earning 3.6 to rank 75th, the report showed.
“The government should take this year’s results seriously and push for feasible measures to achieve a transparent society so as to regain public trust,” Kim Keo-sung, president of TI Korea, added.
New Zealand ranked first by scoring 9.5, followed by Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Singapore, with the United States coming in 24th, the report showed.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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