Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Young people trust YouTubers more than politicians, poll suggests
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By Jung Min-ho
Young people trust politicians less than they do influencers on social media to tell them the truth about current affairs, a poll released on Sunday suggested.
According to a survey of more than 13,000 students at elementary, middle and high schools, their trust in the president — a separate category from politicians among eight groups asked about for the study — was particularly low.
The president received 1.99 out of four points, which was lower than 2.05 for politicians in general. The professional group the students said they would trust most was teachers (3.26). Prosecutors and police came second with 2.80 points, followed by judges (2.70), journalists (2.34), religious leaders (2.25) and influencers (2.23).
The study, conducted jointly by the state-run Korean Educational Development Institute and the Education Policy Network, also demonstrates their perceptions about discrimination and success in Korean society.
Asked about on what grounds people are discriminated against, 50 percent picked money as the main reason, followed by school grades (44.8 percent), disabilities (44 percent), gender (36.9 percent) and race (38.5 percent).
Nevertheless, 36.5 percent said “living a happy life” is a more important personal success than “making a lot of money” (31.2 percent) or having a desired career (14.8 percent).