Half of foreign residents see Korean officials as corrupt

By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Yonhap) -- Over half of South Korea's foreign residents see civil
servants here as corrupt, according to a poll released by the Anti-Corruption and
Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) on Friday.

In the survey of 200 expatriates working for Seoul-based foreign embassies,
chambers of commerce and companies, 50.5 percent of respondents said Korean civil
servants are corrupt, whereas merely 17.5 percent described them as free of
corruption.
The poll was conducted by Research Plus at the request of the ACRC. The results
have a 6.93-point error margin. In a similar poll conducted last year, the
percentage of foreigners suspecting corruption among Korean government officials
was 45.5 percent.
"Nearly six of 10 foreigners here complained Korea's government sector corruption
seriously hinders their business activities," said an official at the ACRC, a
government body under the presidential office.
"Notably, the portion of foreign executives citing serious fallout from
corruption in Korea marked a 39-point surge compared with last year, indicating a
corruption-free social environment should be the priority task under the
government's bid to improve business environment for foreign investors," said the
official.
Asked the reason for their negative image of Korean civil servants, 55.4 percent
cited media reports on corruption scandals, followed by experiences of their
acquaintances (19.8 percent) and personal experiences (10.9 percent).
Indeed, the poll found that 5.5 percent of the expatriates actually offered money
or gifts to Korean civil servants over the past year in order to maintain
"smooth" relations with them.
Since his inauguration in February, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has
repeatedly pledged to improve the nation's business environment and speed up
deregulatory reforms to increase investments from abroad.
Meanwhile, 40.5 percent of the foreign respondents were found to have a low
opinion of Korean companies' ethical standards, with only 19 percent giving a
positive response on the matter, according to the survey.
ycm@yna.co.kr
(END)