(Unofficial Translation)

IACC Council Chair Huguette Labelle and delegation members, I am glad to meet you and welcome you all to Korea. I have high regard for Chair Labelle and the IACC’s efforts to make a corruption-free world and organize relevant action plans. 

I hope that this visit to Korea by Chair Labelle will become a catalyst for elevating the Korean people’s interest in anti-corruption activities and further encourage their participation.

The Korean people aspire to a fair and clean society, and it can be said that my Administration was born out of that aspiration. Immediately following my inauguration, the Government formulated a five-year comprehensive anti-corruption plan and is now strongly pushing ahead with anti-corruption reform for a fair society.

As a result, the Republic of Korea has seen its score in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index rise rapidly every year since 2017, but I don’t think we’ve done enough. We need to work harder still.

Our Government’s goal is to see Korea ranked among the top 20 in the global CPI evaluation by 2022. I hope that Korea’s efforts to institutionalize anti-corruption and fairness will be able to contribute to building a world where integrity and transparency prevail – something that can be considered our common goal. 

The 19th International Anti-Corruption Conference will be held in Korea in June. This is also part of our Government’s efforts to make Korean society more transparent and cleaner and, in this way, contribute to the international community. I ask for your generous cooperation for the conference’s success, and I welcome you to Korea once again.