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Taufiq Effendi, left, Indonesia’s state minister for administrative reform, and other Indonesian government officials listen to anticorruption efforts during their visit to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in Seoul Friday. / Courtesy of Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission |
 By Kim Dok-man
``If you are able to make 1 billion won, will you commit a crime even if you have to live in prison for 10 years?'' A research company asked this question to a group of youths, 17 percent said yes.
In another survey of 1,400 people conducted by the now-defunct Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption on the degree of corruption of public officials, half replied that they are corrupt. However, in the same survey conducted on 700 public officials, just 3 percent of the respondents said they are corrupt.
Controversy over the survey results could arise due to sampling methodology or timing of the survey. However, these figures indicate that a corruption-friendly culture exists in our society.
Then, how does the global society evaluate Korea's integrity level? According to the Transparency International (TI) report released in September, Korea ranked 40th among the 180 countries surveyed in terms of the 2008 Corruption Perception Index.
With a maximum score being 10, Korea hit the bottom with 3.8 in 1999 and has seen a steady improvement every year, reaching 5.6 in 2008. In terms of score, Korea earned its highest mark since 1994 when the TI began to conduct the survey.
The report cited ``the progress in practices of ethics and anti-corruption in the public sector" as a key reason behind the improvement. As concrete examples, it pointed out a campaign to build a transparent society, establishment of the defense acquisition program administration and propulsion for an anti-corruption policy.
However, the problem lies in the fact that Korea is still ranked a shameful 40th in integration. In other sectors, Korea stands at around 10th, boasting of its strong international competitiveness.
According to the International Institute for Management Development report, Korea ranked 17th in the growth competitiveness index, 12th in gross domestic product (GDP), fifty-sixth in dollar holdings, and eighth in information and technology power.
Global society attributes Korea's low integrity competitiveness mainly to society leaders' moral insensibility. A report revealing that the political competitive power of Korean leaders ranked below 50th attests to this.
In recent years, foreigners have frequently seen heads of the nation's top 10 chaebol appear in court and high-ranking government officials being placed under investigation on suspicion of corruption right after leaving office.
Some may assert that these are long-lasting practices and are part of the procedure to enter a clean society, coming out of the customary corruption. However, the global society still regards them as bad practices.
We should continue finding out what we have to do to make more efforts.
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in charge of anti-corruption policy is establishing and carrying out various policies to root out corruption in order to enter the league of integrity of advanced countries.
The commission is revising laws, regulations and systems susceptible to corruption, like traffic effect appraisal, while building a strict system to punish and eradicate corruption.
It offers integrity consultation services to the officialdom and strengthened the unprecedented regulation to protect whistleblowers that pays a maximum of 2 billion won compensation to those reporting public officials' illegal acts.
More important is the effort of the lower classes in society to change their recognition of corruption and create a clean society.
If the cultural standard of a people is that they do not hesitate regarding the risk of going to prison in order to earn money, and if this does not change, any golden rule will be useless.
To become an advanced country with a high integrity level such as Sweden, Denmark and Finland, a campaign must be staged to spread ethical consciousness.
A nationwide campaign to change spirit, such as ethics education that punishes corruption, society leaders' initiative to eradicate corruption, and liquidation of paternalism and cronyism should be carried out in every walk of life.
Entering the 20th century, we staged a new village movement for several decades and succeeded in jacking up the country to the ranks of advanced economic powers.
Westerners appraise Koreans as a people with impatient spirit who exert ceaseless efforts without enough sleep to attain a goal. I hope such ``hurry hurry spirit" will be grafted onto the campaign to enhance integrity.
In the 21st century, I hope the integrity campaign pursuing ethical consciousness will spread like wildfire and help us attain our goal of becoming an integrity advanced country as soon as possible.
The writer is public information officer of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. He can be reached at bodo@acrc.go.kr
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