Korean Corruption Perception Index Sharply Dropped

Korean Corruption Perception Index sharply dropped in 2016

 – Lowest score in 10 years-

– Government attempts to fight corruption seem ineffective, public sector corruption becomes worse –

Analysis by Sanghak Lee, Board Member of TI Korea

Sharply Dropped Index

 According to the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which was released on January 25, 2017 by Transparency International, Korea’s score has sharply dropped. The score of CPI dropped to 53 points which is 3 points lower than 2015 and the rank of Korea has gone down 15 grades. The 2016 CPI score of Korea is the lowest score since 2007 and the 2016 rank is the lowest since 1995.

[Table 1] The Score and Ranks of the Korean CPI

Between 2000 and 2008 Korea’s CPI score showed a consistent upward trend, however it stagnated since 2008 ranging between 54 and 56. The drop of 3 points in the score (from 56 to 53) and of 15 ranks in the 2016 CPI is recorded as the greatest drop in the Korean CPI ranks since 1995.   

[Table 2] The Trends of CPI (points)

Shameful Score of Korean CPI

 The CPI score of Korea is 53 points. It is not only far below the highest ranked countries such as Denmark (90 points) and New Zealand (90 points) but also significantly lower compared to other Asian countries such as Singapore (84 points), Hong Kong (77 points) or Japan (72 points).

Korea is ranked 52th place of 176 countries that were covered by the 2016 CPI. This low rank is surprising when taking Korea’s economic power into consideration as the 11th biggest economy in the world (based on GDP ranking by the World Bank).

Causes of CPI Decline

[Table 3] Change Ratio of Each Data Sources(%)

When we review the 9 data sources (see Annex) that were used to create the Korean CPI, Korea’s score in 6 of these data sources declined, scores in 2 data sources are equal to 2015, and only in 1 data source Korea’s score has improved. 

As shown in the graph above, Korea’s score in the SGI drops by 28.8% in 2016 compared to 2015. Also Korea’s results in the GI declines by 9.6%, the IMD score drops by 7.8% and WEF score falls by 5.8%. 

When we compare the Korean score of each data sources among 3 years, we can identify several trends. The scores of WEF and WJP have been constantly declining from 2014 to 2016, whereas the scores of BTI and GI did not change in 2015 (compared to 2014) but start to decline in 2016. The 3rd trend as shown in SGI and IMD was an upward development in 2015 which turned into a downward development in 2016. The scores in ICRG and EIU did not change during the past 3 years. Only Korea’s score in PERC report has improved over the three year period.   

[Table 4]  Score Changes of Each Data Sources

Analysis and Policy Implications

• CPI shows the increase of the perceived corruption level of Korea in the Park Geun-hye administration. When we review the overall scores of CPI and each data sources of CPI, we can confirm that the Korean corruption situation has worsened since 2014 which actually reflects practices of the Park Geun-hye government.
• We can review the overall trends of the Korean CPI scores since 1995 (see Table 1). The development in the years 1996 to 1999, when scores drop sharply are deeply related to the Korean economic crisis. From 1999 to 2008, under the influence of the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments, the index consistently increased. But from the time Lee Myung-bak took office, the index was either stagnant or became worse. Now in 2016, the index drops sharply.
• Several important changes in the institutional strategy and the government policies of anti-corruption were introduced in 2015. Especially the Kim Young-ran act, the new Korean anti-graft law, was legislated in 2015. The CPI data sources SGI and BTI measure the effectiveness of anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies for public officeholders. As we have already seen, the scores of these two sources dropped in 2016. The Bertelsmann foundation (BTI) states in their 2016 report that “the Korean government attempts to curb the problem are seen as mostly ineffective by the population”.
• Some data sources (WEF, IMD, WJP, GI) reveal consistent trends of the Korean corruption situation. According to these data sources, the corruption of the public sector became much the worse in these years.
• All in all two conclusions can be made regarding Korea’s fight against corruption and results in the 2016 CPI: First, we can say that the anti-corruption polices of the government seem to be mostly ineffective. Second, corruption practices among public officials and within the public sector remain unchanged or have become worse despite recent efforts.

[Annex]