In South Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) was the first public authority to implement an integrity pact (IP) in 2000. The decision was made after the government acknowledged that corrupt practices were leading to faulty construction and waste of the national budget. At the same time, businesses complained because they could not put anti-bribery principles into practice in an environment of widespread bribery and fierce competition.

The IP was prepared and implemented through a public-private partnership between the SMG and civil society organisations, particularly with People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), the largest civil society organisation in the country, and eventually launched in July 2000.

The IP consisted of a mandatory contract between the city and bidders participating in a contracting procedure. It included an “oath” from the bidder not to engage in bribery and collusion, a definition of independent monitoring and punitive measures (including termination of the contract and blacklisting) in case of violation, prohibition of all forms of bribery and collusion by employees and protection from retaliatory measures in case they reported violations and provision of rewards for doing so.

Among the bidders with a Code of Conduct, those with an outstanding and comprehensive compliance programme (according to specific criteria by the SMG) would be given additional points in bid evaluation. The IP, which would apply to the winning bidder until the execution of the contract, also included a no-corruption oath by senior SMG officials and commitments to transparency and providing real-time access to information on the bidding through the OPEN (Online Procedure Enhancement for Civil Applications) system, considered one of the most advanced online procurement portals existing at the time.

To ensure adequate monitoring and full implementation of the IP, the SMG introduced an Integrity Pacts Ombudsman System and a system of public hearings at three critical stages (planning, award, and execution) for sizeable contracts. Under this system, five independent ombudsmen, nominated by civil society representatives and appointed for two-year terms, were tasked with reviewing, inspecting, and monitoring all documents until the completion of works, organising public hearings, and demanding corrective measures when needed.

To select the projects to be monitored, the SMG set up an Integrity Pacts Operational Committee, which also reported on the implementation of the activities and carried out educational and public relations activities on the IP. The committee included the Seoul vice mayor, top-level officials from the Audit and Inspection Bureau, and the ombudspersons.

In 2000, the IP was applied to 62 contracts worth US$105 million, awarded by the Seoul City Hall and three subordinate headquarters. And in 2001, Seoul’s 21 ward offices and municipal-owned enterprises. After that, the application of the IP was significantly extended to include all city government contracts in the field of construction, special services, purchase of commodities, and procurements by the 25 autonomous district offices.

In a survey carried out by Transparency International Korea on the initiative's implementation, businesses confirmed the view that the IP had helped foster integrity, fair competition, and a cleaner business environment.

Starting from 2002, the use of integrity pacts (IPs) in South Korea expanded to several other municipalities, public institutions, and state-owned enterprises, including the Public Procurement Service and the Ministry of Defence. However, these numerous applications also resulted in different versions of the IP, with some of them far from the original concept, as they only took the form of unilateral declarations and did not provide a monitoring mechanism.

In 2012, the South Korean Contract Act was amended to recognise the IP formally. According to the law, bidders and parties to a public procurement contract must now enter into an integrity pact, pledge not to provide illicit offers of money, valuables or entertainment, and accept that any violations may result in the cancellation of an accepted bid or the termination of an awarded contract.