Corruption in South Korea

Corruption in South Korea is moderate compared to most countries in the Asia–Pacific and the broader international community. Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index scored South Korea at 63 on a scale between 0 ("highly corrupt") and 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, South Korea ranked 32nd among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11 (ranked 180). For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Asia–Pacific region was 85, the average score was 45 and the lowest score was 17.

Notable cases
South Korean president Park Geun-hye was found guilty in 16 charges, including abuse of power and bribery, and was then imprisoned for 25 years. Another former president Lee Myung-bak was also charged with corruption scandals involving major companies in 2018 and was sentenced to 17 years in jail.

As a result of such scandals, coupled with other incidents, such as the Sewol ferry disaster, a 2015 report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that "[a]almost 70 percent of South Koreans distrust their government, while less than 30 percent of them are confident in the nation's judicial system." This rate is significantly lower than the OECD average, which was 41.8 percent. Despite South Korea's low public confidence rate in 2015, it was at least a step up from the rate in 2007 by 10 percentage points.

The South Korean government has taken steps to fight corruption, such as the Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistle-Blowers which protects whistleblowers who report public and private corruption as well as foreign bribery. Public services have also been digitalised in order to avoid opportunities for corruption. However, large chaebols pose significant difficulties as illicit business behaviour is still common among them. Some of the large conglomerates have been involved in tax evasion and corruption, and their powerful role in South Korea's economy has made corruption investigation very difficult.

Notable incidents

 * 2016 South Korean political scandal
 * BBK stock price manipulation incident
 * Daewoo dissolution and corruption scandal
 * Grand National Party Convention bribery incident
 * Gwangju Inhwa School
 * Improper Solicitation and Graft Act
 * Jeon-gwan ye-u
 * MOFAT Diamond scandal
 * South Korean illegal surveillance incident
 * South Korean nuclear scandal