The ACRC organized a ten-day integrity training course focused on the improvement of anti-corruption capacity of foreign public officials from April 17 to the 26.

Since 2013, the ACRC has provided training to members of anti-corruption agencies from across the world. For this year’s course, a total of 14 participants were selected from 14 countries*, out of 58 applicants from 24 countries.

* Botswana, Indonesia, Jordan, Maldives, Moldova, Myanmar, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe.

The training course is aimed at improving capacity to build effective anti-corruption systems. This year’s course covered Korea’s internationally recognized anti-corruption policies, such as the Integrity Assessment, the Anti-Corruption Initiative Assessment (AIA), the Whistleblower Protection System, and Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (ACRC), as well as asset disclosure by public officers (Ministry of Personnel Management), recovery of corrupt assets (Supreme Prosecutors’ Office), and prevention of money laundering (Korea Financial Intelligence Unit).

An “Integrity Concert” for foreigners was also staged for the first time during this session. The Integrity Concert has proven popular among trainees as it pairs the somewhat nebulous concept of integrity with diverse forms of entertainment including pansori (Korean traditional narrative drama), drama, song, and talk show.

To receive hands-on experience with best practices, trainees visited Gangnamgu office, which received exceptionally high grades in last year’s integrity assessment and AIA.

ACRC Chairperson Sung Young-hoon noted that “The international community has been strengthening cooperation to eradicate corruption and bribery, as enshrined in the UN Convention against Corruption, the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The ACRC is committed to improving the anti-corruption capacity of other countries to assist their efforts in achieving sustainable development.”

The Chairperson added that “The number of applicants has continuously increased, from 31 applicants from 16 countries in 2013, to 58 applicants from 24 countries this year, demonstrating Korea’s heightened status in anti-corruption training.”