In a newsletter this week, Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, touted South Korea as an example of positive government transparency.

Whitsett’s chief of staff, W. Scott Jorgensen, who is also a graduate student at Portland State University, recently visited Seoul and reported back on what he learned about South Korean government, according to Whitsett’s newsletter.

Plagued by corruption scandals, Whitsett wrote, South Korea made a concerted effort starting in the late 1990s to open government, an effort that Oregon government could stand to learn from, he argued.

Citizens can report complaints of perceived corruption or graft to ombudsmen; systems such as welfare were streamlined and made more efficient; and local governments started taking more direct input from citizens on budget issues, administrative rules and infrastructure projects, Whitsett wrote.

“An emphasis was placed on communication, participation and the sharing of data, with access to information being viewed as a right for all citizens,” Whitsett wrote. “Importantly, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) began using the nation’s advance(d) information technology to enhance transparency and better serve and empower its citizens through greater responsiveness.”

Whitsett said that the Oregon’s Transparency website was a start in the right direction.

The state’s recent IT projects have left something to be desired. The state recently settled a lawsuit with Oracle, the software company in charge of the failed Cover Oregon health insurance exchange.

South Korea also continues to struggle with corruption — in early 2015, the prime minister declared an “all-out war on corruption” after a series of high-profile graft cases, according to the BBC.

The U.S. also still has lower perceived levels of corruption than South Korea, according to Transparency International, which annually ranks countries on that basis.

In Transparency International’s most recent index, South Korea ranked 37th in a list of 168 countries. That’s an improvement from 2014, though, when it ranked 43rd. The U.S. ranks 16th.