By Deauwand Myers
This is not 1970. But if you ask around, some people act as if it is. Korea is not a poor, developing country. It is, in practical terms, a first-world nation. Wealth, infrastructure, the welfare state, and the like are now close to or on par with other industrialized nations, proportionate to Korea’s size and population. The question is: when will Korea act the part it wants to play?
The wealthy in Korea, those billionaires and multimillionaires, have not and do not perform adequately in this regard. Levels of philanthropy in this country, especially for the wealthiest, are appalling. Many siphon money to shell companies, and by other means, to evade taxes and secure their wealth for their progeny.
Well, that story’s old as Moses. The wealthy do that everywhere, in ever-more sophisticated ways. But to be fair to my home country, the American ultra-rich have been increasingly aggressive in giving vast sums of wealth in a targeted, intelligent fashion. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner and others are not only giving, but pledging to give half or more of their many billions to charity.
In Korea ― not so much. Even universities that are virtually owned and operated by huge Korean conglomerates do not have much to show in the way of finances for this corporate relationship. The lack of giving by the wealthiest has serious and negative effects for the entire society.
The aforementioned case of universities is a perfect example.
Consider: Even high-ranking universities like Seoul National University or Korea University don’t have proper endowments to fund their schools. Imagine the difficulties of lesser-known institutions in this regard. If the Korean wealthy, en masse, gave just 10-20 percent of their wealth to all the major national universities and viable colleges supporting the middle and working classes, these institutions would have funding to last into perpetuity. Tuitions could be lowered, more salaried employees could be hired, more grants and scholarships awarded, more research funded and the financial burden of funding college education would be substantially lessened for the majority of Koreans who attend school.
This is not 1970. The excuses of ``Korea is still poor” and ``we should wait, because Korea is still developing” simply are erroneous. The streets are paved. Median salaries are at their highest levels ever. Korea has some of the most efficient and highly-regarded public transportation networks in the world (the recent KTX problems are a rare exception).
There are more wealthy Koreans in Korea now than there have been in all of Korean history. The wealthy of this nation are awash in cash as never before. If education is one of the fundamental keys to success, the rich of this country should step up and take on the challenge of, at the very least, seeing to it that higher education is affordable and accessible to all who deserve and want it. One less Bentley could fund the education of two dozen students for an entire academic year.
Philanthropy in Asia as a whole has not kept up with socio-economic development. Japan, the most advanced of the Asian countries, still has a woeful charity history. Its first homeless shelter was created by a foreigner not ten years ago. Japan has been ``developed” for many decades.
Greed and, perhaps, indifference are partly to blame. The fantasy of ``if you work, all will come” may very well be another. And statistically, across all cultures and countries, the wealthy give a lower percentage of their income to charity than the poor, working and middle classes. Whatever the cultural and ideological reasons, I hope the wealthy of this nation learn that enriching other
people’s lives makes you ever richer.
Deauwand Myers holds an M.A. in English literature and literary theory and is currently an English professor at an institution outside of Seoul. He can be reached at deauwand@hotmail.com.