The Korea Customs Service, the Ministry of Government Legislation, and power monopoly KEPCO ranked high in an integrity survey released Wednesday, but the Fair Trade Commission, the National Police Agency, and the Prime Minister's Office came off worst. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission released the survey of 381 public organizations, including 39 central government agencies.

It was conducted based on interviews with civilians and officials about corruption among civil servants, transparency in handling duties, and their sense of responsibility. The outcome was marked on a 10-point scale.

Among 16 municipalities and provinces, Seoul led with a score of 9.08, and Gyeonggi Province with 8.91, and South Chungcheong Province with 8.88 also ranked high. Busan (7.91), Daegu (7.80), and Jeju Province (7.14) scored poorly. Jincheon-gun in North Chungcheong Province did fairly well with 8.8, as did Jeungpyeong-gun in the same province with 8.77, but Gangjin-gun in South Jeolla Province (7.3), Yeongi-gun in South Chungcheong (7.16), and Muan-gun in South Jeolla (6.72) scored poorly.

In the survey of 65 public and semi-governmental agencies among civilians, KEPCO and the Korea Development Bank ranked high, but the Korea Housing Corporation and the Financial Supervisory Service scored low marks.