As presidential terms in South Korea age, scandals appear, causing the popularity of the president to fall further.

In the fourth year of her five-year term, President Park Geun-hye finds herself embroiled in a growing scandal involving Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of the president and the ex-wife of her former chief of staff. Choi is accused of profiting from her work in the Mir and K-Sports foundations, which were founded in 2015 to promote Korean culture and sports overseas. The scandal, described by the opposition as “Choi Soon-sil-gate,” has sent President Park’s popularity below 25 percent for the first time since she took office in February 2013, turning her into a lame duck.

Choi Soon-sil-gate raises the issue of corruption only weeks after the controversial Anti-Corruption and Bribery Prohibition Act, known more commonly as the Kim Young-ran Law, went into effect. The law prohibits or greatly restricts gift giving and buying meals for teachers, public servants, journalists and their spouses. Earlier this year, the law was challenged in the Constitutional Court, but the justices upheld its legality.

The Kim Young-ran Law is the latest in a series of measures since the 1990s designed to fight corruption. The first, and perhaps most important, was the adoption of a real-name requirement on bank accounts in 1993 and for real estate exchanges in 1995. The law ended the long-standing custom of hiding money in fake accounts.

South Korea has made slow progress in fighting corruption. Transparency International, a nonprofit group against corruption, has released a yearly Corruption Transparency Index since 1995. In that year, South Korea ranked 27th out of the 41 countries surveyed. Among Asian countries, it ranked sixth, behind Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan. In 2000, it ranked 48th out of 90 countries surveyed, and was sixth in Asia. In 2005, it ranked 40th out of 158 countries surveyed and was still sixth in Asia. In 2010, it ranked 39th out of 178 countries surveyed, but took over Malaysia to rank fifth in Asia. In 2015, the most recent survey, it ranked 37th out of 165 countries surveyed and was still fifth in Asia.

In its “Declaration against Corruption,” Transparency International defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.” The definition highlights the two main dimensions of corruption: power and gain. In a democracy, power is given by the people to the government which is staffed by elected officials and career bureaucrats. Public institutions, many of which receive government funding, also fit this paradigm.

Power itself takes many forms, but the most common form is the power to make a decision that affects the life of a citizen. A police officer, for example, who pulls a driver over for speeding can decide whether to give a verbal reprimand, issue a ticket, or press more serious charges. Most drivers would be happy to get off with a reprimand, but would be upset with a ticket or more serious charges. The threat of a ticket or charges becomes a commodity produced by the power entrusted in the police officer. To avoid the threat, the driver may offer the officer a bribe, which, if accepted, would be a private gain for the officer.

Stopping the officer and the driver from thinking about this type of exchange is at the heart of fighting corruption. In short, people must not believe that favors can be bought and sold. To create this type of public culture, transparency and accountability are critical. People in positions of entrusted power must believe that their actions are being watched and that if they break the rules, they will get caught and be punished. Citizens must also believe that they are being watched and are accountable for their actions. The Kim Young-ran Act makes “inappropriate requests” punishable.

Choi Soon-sil-gate and the Kim Young-ran Act in the news at the same time underscores the sense that there are two sets of rules in South Korea, one for the elite and one for everybody else. On the other side of the Pacific, the same sense of unfairness has fueled the US presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

The Kim Young-ran Act is a positive step toward changing the culture of favors by making people more accountable. The act also builds on the gradual progress toward greater transparency since the 1990s. To work, however, the public must perceive it as applying to everybody equally, which explains why getting to the bottom of Choi Soon-sil-gate is important.
By Robert J. Fouser

Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He can be reached at kagoshimabob@gmail.com. -- Ed.