Lee Sung-bo, head of Korea’s corruption watchdog, is conducting a five-day tour of the U.S. as part of the government’s efforts to promote Korea’s anti-corruption measures.

As the chairman of Korea’s Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, Lee has been holding meetings with related U.S. organizations including the nonprofit organization World Justice Project.

On Tuesday, Lee visited the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs and explained the Korean government’s plans to expand the protection measures afforded to whistleblowers. Lee also outlined the tougher penalties for corruption that the Korean government has rolled out, and requested for Korean projects be considered for a U.N. support program for anti-corruption measures in developing countries. 

“(Lee) also met with U.N. Global Compact chief Georg Kell and conveyed that Korea will actively participate in the U.N. Convention Against Corruption,” the ACRC said. The commission said that Lee also emphasized the new anti-corruption regulations the ACRC is trying to bring into law this year.

At the meeting with the World Justice Project, held on Wednesday, Lee stressed the Korean government’s plans to improve transparency in Korean society, the ACRC said.

According to the commission, Korea’s rule-of-law index, which measures the degree to which rule of law is experienced in everyday life, came in at 0.77 this year. The figure puts Korea 14th among the 99 nations on the index.

On Thursday the anti-corruption chief went to the World Bank and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, and rounded up his trip on Friday with a meeting with U.S.-Korea Business Council chief Tami Overby.

At the meeting with Overby, the chief of the largest Korea-U.S. business association, Lee took note of regulation-related difficulties U.S. companies experience in Korea, the commission said.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)