The following is an excerpt of welcoming remarks to be delivered by Park Chin-keun, chairman of the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Science (NRCS).
Public trust toward governments is continuing to decline in many countries around the world and Korea is no exception to this.
As renowned scholar Stephen Covey brilliantly stated in his book “The Speed of Trust,” when trust increases, speed increases and costs decrease.
In other words, in the context of public administration, low levels of public trust can result in the delay of policy implementation as well as low cost-efficiency.
However, the weakening of public confidence in governments is not limited to the issues of cost and speed.
Furthermore, it could lead to a national crisis. For example, some experts attribute the fiscal crisis in Europe to public distrust toward governments.
At the same time, we observe the vicious cycle that those governments in Europe are losing public trust due to the economic crisis.
The significance of government PR has been increasing in order to cope with declining public trust. In this context, KIPA has been doing research on “Public Relations for Enhancing Government Trust” since 2010.
It is timely and meaningful for KIPA to hold this international seminar to promote research and debate on the issue of government PR.
With the increased attention on public trust and government PR, the Korean government has redesigned PR organizations to help the people have a better understanding of its policies.
The National Research Council for Economics and Humanities and Social Science also has conducted a joint research project regarding communication between the government and the public as a way to realize symbiotic growth, a vision that President Lee Myung-bak stressed the significance of.
One step further from here, it is time to review the current operations of the overall PR systems, and compare them with cases abroad as part of efforts to put an enhanced government PR institution in place.
This is because increasing government trust through improved communication with people is necessary for the resolution of social conflict and social integration, which will lead Korea to becoming a first-rate country.
No one could possibly deny that KIPA has been playing a key role in supporting the government’s efforts to advance public institutions and policies.