Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Koreans lose trust in religion
By Kim Bo-eun
Amid Koreans' declining level of trust in religion, Catholicism has the highest trust level, according to a survey.
The Jogye Order Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Society surveyed 1,200 people 16 and older and found trust in religion this year was 11.8 percent, down from 25 percent last year.
Catholicism was the most trusted (38.9 percent), followed by Buddhism (32.8 percent) and Protestantism (10.2 percent).
Similarly, priests were the most trusted among clerics (51.3 percent), followed by monks (38.7 percent) and pastors (17 percent).
While people had less trust in religion, more believed religion’s influence on society had increased (40.4 percent) rather than decreased (26.7 percent).
Apart from trust, people thought Protestantism had the greatest influence (42.3 percent), followed by Catholicism (36.3 percent) and Buddhism (26.7 percent).
What they regarded highly was that the religions "take care of and comfort the weak and the suffering." But they regarded "the lack of transparency in finances" the greatest problem.
Meanwhile, people thought reducing the gap between the rich and poor was the most pressing issue (42.8 percent). They also considered the most valuable social value "fairness and equality” (24.3 percent).