South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is strengthening integrity practices as part of an effort to reform its organisational culture. The ministry said on Jan. 19 it held an integrity innovation rally at the Government Complex Sejong with all staff, including Vice Minister Moon Shin-hak. It said the event was held to put integrity into practice in the workplace by treating it as a core standard of policy trust rather than a simple ethical slogan.

The ministry said its 2025 integrity evaluation improved to Grade 3 from Grade 5. It said it held the rally after concluding it needed to build consensus among officials and set clear behavioural standards to make the improvement a practice-focused integrity culture rather than a one-off achievement.

At the rally, a staff representative read out an integrity pledge. The pledge included handling work in line with regulations and procedures based on fairness and principles, not accepting private solicitations or preferential treatment and convenience, and not engaging in conduct that amounts to abuse of power.

Minister Kim has repeatedly stressed organisational culture reform since taking office. Under the view that it is hard to deliver any policy results without changing the culture, Kim pushed a project to scrap unnecessary work practices called the "fake work elimination" project.

The latest integrity push is an extension of organisational reform following the fake work elimination effort. The ministry put integrity at the forefront to secure both policy performance and trust. It said it plans to continue showing that integrity can translate into policy results, based on administration that the public and companies can trust.

Moon said, "This pledge only becomes meaningful when it does not end as a slogan but leads to action in each person’s workplace," adding, "I will start by practising integrity to the strictest standards."