Corruption in Korea
By Kim Yun-sik
Corruption is defined as the misuse or abuse of power to unfairly benefit one group over another, and the misuse of a public position of trust for private gain. The degree of corruption is very high in Korea. A survey by Transparency International once ranked Korea 43rd out of 85 other countries in terms of integrity standards.
The most corrupt groups of people in Korea include politicians (70.6 percent), civil servants (12.2 percent) and many others. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also noted that the bureaucratic corruption in Korea has reached the level of a national crisis.
Every day you can read the papers about slush fund scandals with big business and politicians. In a sense, Korean society has many bureaucrats running public institutions where public funds have been wittingly misused and abused against the public interest.
These tend to be significant sources of bureaucratic corruption from a psyche-cultural perspective. Although the Western model of a bureaucratic system was introduced by law into the Korean constitution, the socioeconomic environment of bureaucracy has been unstable and underdeveloped.
Most politicians and bureaucrats have been influenced by the predominant social values, such as the legacy of Confucianism which makes a clear cut distinction between the ``ruled'' and ``rulers.'' The bureaucratic elite looks down upon the masses.
The authoritarianism of bureaucrats is directly related to Confucianism, stemming from the concept that the state is superior to the people. Let me explain the corruption related phenomenon of each administration respectively.
The First Republic was launched with authoritarian politics that made the country highly hierarchical in its power structure.
Another factor worth noting is the lack of the people's power to participate in the decision-making process within the government through interest groups. Thus, the bureaucrats have constantly wielded their power to amass fortunes illegally.
Lastly, the low payment for the bureaucrats during the First, Second and Third Republics may have been a serious cause of corruption. It is almost impossible to expect bureaucrats to serve well without solving their own economic problems, since they could not support their families via their salaries alone.
In the First Republic the role of the bureaucrats, the bureaucratic system and the socio-cultural environments were relatively unstable and maladjusted to one other. Corruption was a major factor that resulted in the failure of the First Republic.
In the Third Republic, led by President Park Chung-hee, the Korean bureaucracy and national development grew steadily in its size and its operation. The number of employees increased nearly 80 percent from the 1960s to the 1970s. Approximately 14 percent of higher-ranking officials were recruited from military retirees.
The function of local autonomy systems was suspended and the heads of the local government were then appointed by the president or jurisdictional minister. The relationship between the central government and local governments was like that of a master and servant relationship.
The central government exercised extensive control over local bureaucracy, which occasionally followed the corruption of the central government.
There was a factor that caused serious friction between general bureaucrats and bribe-related bureaucrats, since the officials were interested in something such as invisible income. Under Park's leadership, priorities of the government were heavily placed on the executive branch.
Park's long term rule over the Korean government allowed increasing opportunities for bureaucratic corruption, although Park's regime attempted strongly to pursue a counter corruption campaign called Seojeong Shoisin. In the end, the movement was not satisfactorily achieved.
Now tracing back to the Fifth and Sixth Republics; in 1993 the trial of two former presidents on charges of corruption, mutiny and treason marked new records in Korean history.
For the first time, three former presidents appeared in court, two as defendants, one as a witness.
In the first trial, former President Roh Tae-woo was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison and fined 283.8 billion won for bribery. President Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death and fined in connection with the amassing a 220 billion won slush fund.
The political sensitivity of the case turned the world's attention to the discreditable Korean leadership, and created skepticism regarding the credibility of Korean Presidents.
Let us review now the period under civilian Presidents Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung. In 1997 then-President Kim Young-sam apologized in a national televised address for his second son who pressured banks to extend huge loans to the debt ridden conglomerate Hanbo for kickbacks.
In the trial he was sentenced to two years in prison on the charge of accepting a bribe. The scandal largely disappointed the public and undermined Kim's prestige.
On his inauguration address in 1992, he pledged to ``never accept a penny from big business.'' His popularity, even though he had implemented the salient Real Name Financial Transaction System, was overshadowed by his son's involvement in the Hanbo scandal, which led to a clear discrepancy with the clean politics he advocated.
When Kim Dae-jung took office, he promised the people, he would ``Root Out Corruption.'' But a series of new scandals came soon after his inauguration. Not only were his top aides involved, but also his two sons as well, in an influencing peddling scandal.
Kim Dae-jung's youngest son received $2.1 million from a lobbyist and other businessmen in bribes for peddling influence. His second son was charged with taking $2.2million in bribes from six companies in return for the same.
The people felt he betrayed the public's trust. The scandals added to an increasingly heated political atmosphere as parents are often blamed for their children's transgressions. The President broke his silence over the series of scandals and apologized to the nation.
In early 2009, allegations of corruption had begun to surface regarding former President Roh Moo-hyun's family and aides, eventually leading to the indictment of his brother on suspicion of influencing peddling.
In May, prosecutors had also summoned former President Roh's wife, son and eventually himself on suspicion of receiving a total of $6 million in bribes from Park Yeon-cha, a businessman and financial supporter of Roh.
Roh had acknowledged Park gave his wife $1 million, but suggested it was not a bribe. He also said he was aware Park gave $5 million to another relative, but he thought it was an investment. Prosecutors suspected the $6 million was eventually conveyed to Roh.
The investigation for corruption proved disappointing to his supporters. He had pledged to clean up the presidency during the election campaign. He said ``what I have to do now is bow to the nation and apologize.''
Despite these appeals, Roh continued to deny all acknowledgement of the receipt of money by his family from Park. In contrast to scandals involving previous presidents, who used illicit funds to finance political campaigns, Roh, however, is alleged to have used illicit funds for the personal use of his family, including the cost of living expenses for his children in the U.S.
In the end the ethical shame of his political life was too much to bear and he choose to commit suicide. Throughout his life, he had always made the extreme choice, playing an ``all-or-nothing game.''
Corruption is a crime of calculation, not passion. Apparently, we can point out the motives of these crimes. There are honest officials or ``saints'' who resist all temptation. However, when the size of the bribe is large, some officials succumb to the temptation of accepting bribes. If they are caught, the penalty is minimal.
Now, why not drive out corruption in Korean society? There are several factors: the key factor is decades-old business ― politics interactions and relations. Second, the Korean legal system is said to be too weak to uproot its lingering widespread corruption due to slackened law enforcement and the prevalence of loopholes.
The third problem is the way of thinking among the Korean public. A national movement for an anticorruption campaign should be taken in the form of serious accountability in order to change the public mentality and spark an ethical revolution.
Under the current political environment, bribe-taking politicians can run openly for elected office, amnesties as well as pardons are frequently granted to those who are jailed for corruption.
The question is how to eradicate deeply rooted corruption in Korea. The people should call on the government to enact strong anticorruption laws and new strategies for an anticorruption drive to be carried out nationally.
The writer is a professor at the Asian division, the University of Maryland in Yongsan, Seoul. He can be reached rokmankim@hotmail.com.