The symposium, which will be co-hosted with the U.N., will be a good opportunity to introduce the system to high ranking officials from 27 countries. Also, this occasion is expected to contribute to enhancing the image of our nation as well as Seoul City, as it is the first time for one of our administrative systems to be exported. You made use of the Internet as a method of staving off corruption. I thought the Internet would be the best tool to take the role of the sunlight. Of course, it is hard to say the OPEN system eradicated the corruption in the city's administration.
Old habits die hard.
But, a recent statistic shows that the system is producing tangible results. Among the respondents who have experience with the city's administration service, only 6.7 percent said that they had bribed city officials last year, a conspicuous fall from 38 percent in 1998. As you mentioned above, Seoul City has significantly wiped out the stigma of being a hotbed of corruption due to a line of municipal reform drive. In order to streamline the bloated organization, we cut back on 20 percent of the agencies as well as staff in headquarters and subsidiary offices. A portion of the functions and staff of the subsidiary offices were contracted out to the private sector.