By Kim Ji-soo
One of the most popular television drama these days is “Sungkyunkwan Scandal,” a fictional tale about love, coming into age and politics in the Joseon-era educational institution called “Sungkyunkwan.” The drama has abundant eye candy: flowery pretty actors and actresses and beautiful old-style sets. But the story somehow weaves the teachings of Confucius, which constitute the mainstay of the institution’s curricula back then. So we have uber-metro actors debating the virtues of benevolence, manner, trust, knowledge and righteousness as they learn the arts and sciences to govern the country in the future.
In this heady 21st century, it’s refreshing to revisit the old days and refresh our memories. Growing of early growth in South Korea, there were always elements of Confucius teachings and virtues omnipresent in everyday life in Korea. But as the country looked to grow fast and industrialize to the level of Western countries, there was also a pervasive eagerness to fast adopt Western ways and styles. What was more important was to achieve goals, goals and goals. In that heated passion, the thousand-years-long virtues were not necessarily on the top of our priority in making decisions.
The ubiquity of Confucian norms was quickly tossed with this the headlong rush to industrialize or Westernize, the tradition-bound virtues seemed anachronistic, like an ill-fitting clothes from the past best given to the Salvation Army. Perhaps this wasn’t a general case for everybody and more of a personal thing. But there is no arguing that in the rapid rush to industrialize and shed the fetters of poverty, Korea sacrificed a lot. Korea as a country is in the process of recouping what was lost — a democratic society, renaissance of our pop culture and more diversity.
Now the country is on a quest to retrieve another lost item: virtue. Or maybe its philosophy, a summation of values that work as a compass guiding our behavior. The quest is most evident when you meet government officials. All they talk of is “fair society,” the latest mantra of Lee Myung-bak administration.
Espoused in his Aug. 15 liberation speech, in a fair society, equal opportunities are given to everyone, without exception, both from the very beginning and throughout the process of pursuing goals, the President said. However, each individual has to take responsibility for the outcome of his or her undertakings. A fair society encourages the values of individual freedom and uniqueness, diligence and creativity.
Under this mantle, practices that may have been condoned before are now coming under public scrutiny. For example, the National Assembly’s vice speaker Hong Jai-hyung recently had to defend his choice of chief secretary for his office, which was his brother-in-law. News media reported that the vice speaker was giving preferential treatment by hiring a family member for the two-year position; the vice speaker defended saying that his brother-in-law had all the expertise required on the job. A son of lawmaker with the main opposition Democratic Party quit his job at the National Assembly after how he got the job was questioned. Lawmakers have expressed mixed response on whether it’s fair to rule out qualified family members or acquaintances for jobs just because they are related. On the other hand, a bill banning lawmakers from hiring family or relatives as legislative aides is pending in the National Assembly.
Other instances of preferential hiring have also emerged at government agencies, state institutions and others. But just how far should we go to clamp down on these cases of unfair practices? Should the law be the only governing criteria in whether we should correct unfair practices or must we take public sentiment into question? Should unfair practices be restored to fairness through punitive measures or with moral admonishment? These questions hopefully should loom in everyone’s mind, anyone with an iota of responsibility to anyone or any institution, against the social backdrop where the word “fair society” is uttered (albeit said here with some exaggeration) once every five minutes.