BackThe Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Ryu Chul Whan) announced its 2025 anti-corruption performance on December 9 to mark International Anti-Corruption Day.
December 9 is designated as International Anti-Corruption Day, commemorating the UN's 2003 signing ceremony for the UN Convention against Corruption in Mérida, Mexico.
In February 2025, Transparency International (TI) published the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in which Korea scored 64 out of 100, ranking 30th out of 180 countries - its highest score and rank to date.
Beyond being merely a score or ranking, CPI is a key indicator affecting national competitiveness and economic growth, requiring whole-of-government management and improvement efforts.
Accordingly, as the lead anti-corruption agency, the ACRC has since early this year focused on five key policies to improve CPI: building a foundation to strengthen integrity education for future generations; ensuring the stable implementation of the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act for Public Officials; strict handling of corruption cases involving fiscal waste; strengthening whistleblower protection and support systems, including expanded relief payments; and the successful hosting of the APEC anti-corruption meeting.
Laying the Groundwork to Strengthen Integrity Education for Future Generations
The ACRC focused its efforts this year on strengthening integrity education for future generations. In August, it established a dedicated task force within the Anti-Corruption Training Institute and has been faithfully implementing the "mandatory integrity education for future generations," a task adopted as a national agenda under the Lee administration.
The ACRC concluded MOUs on integrity education with all 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide, as well as with 25 universities.
Based on this cooperation system, the ACRC operated "Visiting Classes for Integrity Experience" at 60 elementary, middle, and high schools, and distributed integrity education content tailored to elementary students through the education offices, enabling about 38,000 students at 142 elementary schools nationwide to learn about integrity.
In addition, integrity special lectures were offered at 20 universities this year, and at four, including Hanyang University, Jeonbuk National University, UNIST, and the Korea National University of Education, integrity courses were opened as credit-bearing regular classes.
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Source: Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, South Korea
