Honorable national delegates, anti-corruption experts, ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, let me thank Attorney General of the State of Qatar, Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri and the Qatari government officials for organizing this event and welcoming us. I"m honored and pleased to speak in the Global Forum VI on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity.

The Global Forum started in Washington D.C. in 1999. Since then, it has become an occasion where developed and developing countries, governments, businesses, civil societies, international organizations join toward the common goal of fighting corruption. 

I believe this forum has already borne fruit. It has raised awareness in the international community that a united front against corruption is important. The Global Forum also promoted cooperation among anti-corruption fighters.

The theme of today"s forum is "Strength in unity: Working together against corruption." Therefore, I hope this gathering serves as an opportunity for us to share our wisdom and capabilities to devise more-effective anti-corruption strategies.

Corruption blocks efficient resource distribution and fair competition. This social evil makes the rich get richer and the poor poorer. Corruption is like a cancer, undermining national competitiveness, national unity and confidence in the government.

Today, corruption is intertwined with the global financial crisis, environmental concerns, terrorism and other issues. The form and methods of corruption continue to become more complex and covert.

Designing comprehensive anti-corruption measures at the national level is the key to an effective response to corruption. These measures must then be used to build an anti-corruption system for society as a whole.

Enacting strong and sophisticated legislation will go only so far. Thorough detection and strict law enforcement is a must. The eradication of corruption requires continuous improvement in laws, institutions and corruption-causing environments. And for the longer term, we need to convince people that corruption is not to be tolerated. 

One government agency alone cannot fight off corruption. The 5th Global Forum, held in Johannesburg in 2007, recommended that an inclusive anti-corruption partnership must be created among major players in the private and public sectors and NGOs.

Integrated approaches are needed that allows various elements of the national anti-corruption system to work well. This is the way to reach our ultimate goal of eradicating corruption, and raising transparency and integrity in society.

One of these approaches is to establish a dedicated body that carries out comprehensive and systematic anti-corruption policies. However, merely founding such an organization is not a cure-all. The anti-corruption organization cannot function properly if its function and authority is challenged by a new government administration or some external forces.

UNCAC and the 3rd IACC held in Athens in 2008 stressed the importance of granting independence to anti-corruption organizations.

In other words, we need an agency that carries out comprehensive and systematic functions to prevent corruption. And the agency should be given independence to function efficiently, free of undue influence.

National anti-corruption bodies play different roles according to socio-economic structure and historical and cultural environment of each country. Let me talk about anti-corruption progress achieved by the Korean government after establishing an independent national anti-corruption body in 2002.

The launch of an anti-corruption organization in Korea was made possible by national consensus, rather than unilateral government-led policy. The consensus was that law enforcement"s efforts to detect and punishment corruption were limited. The decision was made to adopt "soft policies," or preventive measures to combat corruption.

Irresponsible management of corporations and collusion between business and politics were identified as the major causes of Korea"s financial crisis in the late 1990s. And Koreans increasingly realized that overall transparency in society would be the best way to boost national competitiveness. In 2001, Anti-Corruption Act was enacted after consultations among the government, politicians, civic organizations and academia. In 2002, an anti-corruption agency was established in Korea.

The launch of the anti-corruption body means that Korea laid the foundation for comprehensive and systematic functions, rather than a simple detection and punishment regime.

After the launch, a range of preventive and punitive measures came into being. They include pan-governmental anti-corruption measures and coordination, institutional improvements, integrity assessments, Codes of Conduct for public officials, encouragement of whistle-blowing, a whistleblower protection and reward program, and training on ethics.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) has led anti-corruption activities and measures. As a result, Korea"s integrity level has been increasing steadily. In just 8 years after the launch of Korean anti-corruption body, mindset and behavior of public officials has changed significantly. The giving and taking of bribes have decreased remarkably. According to the Integrity Survey 2008, 99.5% of the respondents have never paid bribes to public servants. Now, the Korean public is much more aware of the need to practice ethics in daily life.

We want to share with the international community the experience and know-how the ACRC has acquired while implementing various anti-corruption policies at home. UNCAC clearly states that technical assistance plays an important role in enhancing a country"s anti-corruption capacity and building institutions.
I suspect many of you here today did not know Korea is the only country to go from ODA recipient into donor. An ODA recipient until the 1980s, Korea is now the 12th largest economy in the world. Now we are striving to fulfill the international obligations commensurate with our economic stature.

At the 64th UN General Assembly held in September, Korean President Lee Myung-Bak expressed his desire to contribute more partnerships for global development. He pledged that Korea will fulfill its promise to triple its ODA by 2015.

In a similar vein, the ACRC is actively carrying out anti-corruption technical assistance projects. We have been transferring major corruption prevention policies such as Integrity Assessment and Corruption Impact Assessment to other countries. We also are helping foreign officials build their corruption-fighting competencies. Korea"s Integrity Assessment has been adopted in Indonesia and Bhutan. Thailand and Mongolia plan to introduce it next year.

The ACRC will strengthen cooperation with countries that want technical assistance to enhance their anti-corruption capacity. We will continue to identify and disseminate best practices in the future.

Social capital will be the driving force of national development in the future. The Korean government recognizes that transparency, accountability and integrity are important builders of the social capital needed to boost national competitiveness and reputation.

Therefore, we intend to increase our cooperation for co-prosperity with countries that want our anti-corruption policy experience and know-how.

Thank you.