The baffling scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil has drawn international attention to one particular aspect of South Korea that many of us are not proud of.

Examples of headlines by foreign media organizations that have covered the scandal include: “Presidential scandal shows that ‘Korean disease’ of corruption far from cured” by the Washington Post; “South Korea’s most bizarre corruption scandal yet” by The Diplomat; and “Why South Korea’s corruption scandal is nothing new” by BBC News.

Although many may find it painful to see how the country’s international reputation has been damaged, the tainted image is not the real issue here, because it reflects a degraded reality.

After all, our elected president has been impeached for abusing the public mandate and colluding with Choi and others to do all sorts of shady deals that point to crony capitalism.

Lee Jae-yong, the young, Harvard-educated de facto chief of Samsung Group, is accused of bribery, after his conglomerate provided a total of 43 billion won ($36 million) to Choi, who is suspected to have pulled strings through her ties with the president.

The funds, according to the special prosecutor investigating the scandal, were bribes to the president, who seems to have shared economic interests with Choi, in return for her administration’s backing of a merger of two Samsung units.

Samsung may not be the only Korean conglomerate put to shame in the latest fiasco.

Almost every big business group in this country gave “donations,” at Park’s request, to nonprofit foundations established and controlled by Choi. The amount of their contributions was supposedly set by none other than Choi.

To be sure, the country has made strenuous efforts to fight corruption, having identified graft decades ago as one of the major problems hindering its social and economic advancement.

Cutting cozy ties between politics and business -- developed in the government-led industrial development era -- and enhancing transparency have been campaign pledges of almost every South Korean president elected.

Some notable progress has been made as well.

Political donations have become far more transparent, with the introduction of a strict law in 2004. The mandatory online disclosure of government contracts has also ensured transparency in public procurement.

Yet, the country’s score in Transparency International’s corruption perception index has changed little.

In 2015, South Korea scored 56 points out of a possible 100, far below the three Nordic countries at the top -- Denmark, Finland and Sweden at 91, 90 and 89, respectively. It ranked 37th out of 168 countries assessed.

Out of the 34 member states of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the country was at 27th. Asian neighbors Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong were rated as being less corrupt than South Korea.

The Park-Choi scandal reveals where the country has failed in its anti-corruption drive: Higher-ups have apparently not moved with the times, using public office as a chance to fatten their own pockets. Internal control, compliance, checks and balances are just foreign words to them.

Looking back on history, the misdeeds of the political, corporate and social elites have never been properly punished in this country.

Former presidents who were convicted of massive graft during their terms were granted special pardons under the pretext of national unity. Chaebol tycoons were allowed to return to management despite convictions of large-scale embezzlement. Their jail terms were either suspended by the court or pardoned by the president for the sake of the national economy.

Public prosecutors were acquitted of bribery despite receiving from so-called “sponsors” luxury cars, entertainment or even unlisted stocks -- which a few years after turn into windfalls for their owners via initial public offerings.

Just a few weeks before the presidential scandal erupted, South Korea achieved a milestone in its long anti-corruption campaign: A sweeping anti-graft law took effect on Sept. 28, aimed at drawing a clear line between bribery and acceptable hospitality.

But the Park-Choi case appears to have done its fair share of damage to this law, too. With the country’s highest office marred with corruption allegations, it may be only natural for the act’s stated mission of raising the moral standards of the country’s public servants, teachers and journalists to lose steam.

Now, less than four months into effect, the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act looks set to be watered down.

The government is moving swiftly to raise the upper limits of the monetary value of free meals and gifts that can be received by those subject to the law, saying the ban, being overly strict, is hurting domestic consumption.

It may be a risky thought, but in this quagmire I suggest we turn to China for lessons.

Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s harsh clampdown on corruption among high-ranking government officials -- despite all the controversies and feared fallouts -- shows where the main battle should be waged.

It is of course important that society adopts an uncompromising attitude toward corruption and reinforces a moral code in daily life, but at the same time we shouldn’t let those in power get away with corruption anymore.

After this embarrassing display of a failed reform, it may be time to take a zero tolerance approach to corruption, starting right from the presidential office. 

By Lee Sun-young

Lee Sun-young is the national desk editor of The Korea Herald. She can be reached at milaya@heraldcorp.com. – Ed.