Poll shows citizens` ideas for reform

Opinion poll on who and what should change:

Asked which individuals or groups (five were mentioned in overlap) are most influential in Korean society, more respondents (71.4 percent) chose National Assemblymen than picked the president (66.1 percent).

Those two categories were followed by journalists (51.1 percent), prosecutors (50.2 percent), non-government organizations and civic advocates (39.0 percent), ranking bureaucrats including cabinet members and their deputies (37.7 percent), heads of business conglomerates (37.5 percent), labor unions (28.8 percent), business people (28.0 percent) and judges (23.2 percent).

Politicians were named by 92.1 percent of the respondents as the first group of people to be held responsible for the current national crisis and in need of change to tide it over. Next came ranking officials (63.4 percent), heads of conglomerates (56.2 percent), prosecutors (46.9 percent), business people (46.7 percent), the president (44.3 percent) and journalists (27.6 percent).

The President, journalists and advocacy group leaders, while being very influential, have been rated as less in need of reform. High-ranking officials and business people, as well as big industrialists, were considered to be in greater need of changing, though their influence was less great.

A generational difference was apparent in the preference of youth in their 20s to pick heads of conglomerates (63.9 percent) and entrepreneurs (50.7 percent) in contrast to the senior group of 50 or older, who saw greater need for changing high-ranking public servants (69.9 percent) and the president (53.1 percent).

Residents of Taegu, North Kyongsang Province, Taejon and South Chungchong Province thought politicians, ranking bureaucrats, the president and then prosecutors needed to be reformed in that order of priority. In Kwangju and the Cholla provinces, respondents said heads of conglomerates and politicians top the list of people who ought to be reformed, above prosecutors and the president.

Politicians:

National Assemblymen and politicians were regarded as most influential in Korean society and also accountable for the national crisis, thus called on to change themselves more than any other group of people. Cited as their chief defects were: corruption and graft (33.9 percent), partisan maneuvering and regional favoritism (27.1 percent), and incompetence or substandard qualifications (25.5 percent). Only 13.5 percent pointed to their unsatisfactory performance in the legislative chamber.

Women, housewives in particular, found most fault with corruption and venality, while men of 40 years of age or older and white-collar workers perceived extreme loyalty to partisan gains and regional affinity as the most serious problem. More young people pointed to the lack of qualifications and inability of politicians.

The largest group of respondents (34.3 percent) said it was necessary to improve the qualifications and professional expertise of politicians to achieve change. They then mentioned the need for the abolition of regional favoritism (20.6 percent), democratic management of political parties (19.3 percent), an enhanced political consciousness of the electorate (14.6 percent) and reform of the electoral system that costs too much money (10.8 percent).

The necessity for increasing the competence and professionalism of politicians was raised by all age groups; the younger respondents called for democratic management of parties and upgrading the political consciousness of voters before everything. Older respondents were concerned more about the eradication of regional prejudices and favoritism. People in Taejon and the Chungchong provinces, in Kwangju and Cholla provinces were in favor of removing the ill effects of regionalism more than residents in other areas.

More people saw the importance of economic recovery (69 percent) over political stability (17.6 percent) to be the main task facing political leaders in the new year; they expressed a desire for bipartisan cooperation (40.4 percent) between the ruling and opposition parties for speedy action on the pending bills for economic reforms (27.9 percent).

Journalists:

The media and journalists were listed as the third most influential group in Korea, next only to politicians and the president. Respondents gave the following problems afflicting the Korean press: commercialism and sensationalism (30.2 percent), unfair and partial reporting (27.6 percent), and inadequate presentation of public opinion (21.6 percent); fewer people pointed out corruption (10 percent) and lack of professionalism (9.6 percent) on the part of journalists.

Residents of Seoul, Inchon and other metropolitan areas brought up unfair and biased reporting as the most serious problem. On the other hand, those in Kwangju and Cholla provinces pointed out commercialism and sensationalism as the most grave defects, while people of Pusan, South Kyongsang Province, Taejon and Chungchong provinces saw inadequate delivery of public opinion as the greatest fault. Thus, some regional disparity was evident.

Most of the polled (41.5 percent) answered that undue pressure from the outside must be resisted and intercepted to induce a change in the nation's media. This might be construed to be a call for correct and fair reporting more than the strengthening of the professional ethics (32.9 percent) or the improvement of expertise (25.0 percent) of journalists. The primacy of this objective is backed up by the response to a general question on the most urgent task of Korean media -- 78.4 percent calling for fair reporting more than anything else.

The goals to be pursued by the media immediately are vigilance and criticism against power (14.2 percent), far ahead of the provision of information required for daily living (7.4 percent). That well represents an overwhelming interest of the public in ensuring fair reporting rather than increasing the expertise of journalists in providing information that satisfies the needs of daily life.

High-ranking officials:

Corruption was cited (34.5 percent) as the greatest vice of top bureaucrats and politicians. Inadequacy of professionalism and competence (26.1 percent) and lack of accountability or commitment to reform (23.5 percent) were given as lesser evils; 15.5 percent referred to their lack of conviction and confidence.

Women (41.6 percent), more than men, pointed to corruption as the most critical malady, while 31 percent of the latter blamed officials for their incompetence and lack of professionalism. Many respondents recommended that in order to bring about a change in the higher echelon of public administration, a larger number of specialists, rather than politicians, should be recruited (31.4 percent), increased powers should be given to enable them to do their job on their own in a responsible way (37 percent) and an institutional arrangement be made to call officials to task for their failures (23.3 percent).

Taejon and Chungchong provinces showed the highest preference (43.4 percent) for greater recruitment of specialists, while Kwangju and Cholla provinces opted more (42.4 percent) for checks on powers. In Taegu and North Kyongsang Province 36.8 percent of the respondents called for an institutional apparatus to bring officials to account for their failure in the making and implementation of policy.

As for government departments in charge of economic affairs, most people took issue with the absence of consistency and interdepartmental coordination (46.2 percent), while smaller groups blamed their lack of power and conviction (19.6 percent), excessive involvement in private business activity (17.8 percent) and the shortage of banking experts (15.3 percent). Inconsistency in public policy and administration drew the largest number of critics (55.5 percent) from Kwangju and Cholla provinces; Taegu and North Kyongsang Province slammed the lack of power and conviction (33.1 percent) more than inconsistency (31.4 percent).

Conglomerate leadership:

Leaders of the conglomerates and other businesses were chosen as the third and fifth sectors in society needing transformation. For questions concerning the inherent problems and ways of improvement, they conglomerate and business leaders were grouped in a single category.

The respondents to the questionnaire chose the greatest problems as the faulty mindset of businessmen (31.4 percent) and unhealthy tenacity for control (28.2 percent), over outdated management (19.4 percent), and interdependence on government (19.7 percent). In other words, people consider the attitudes and mentalities of the businessmen as being more problematic than their management style.

Older respondents selected the greatest problem as the faulty mindset of the businessmen, while the younger generation considered unhealthy tenacity for control as the worst. White-collar workers ranked in order unhealthy tenacity for control, outdated management techniques, faulty mindset, and interdependence of the government, revealing a greater dissatisfaction with management style.

To overcome the crisis, respondents chose as the most urgent a shift to management by management experts (40.5 percent), business restructuring (30.6 percent), greater social responsibility of businesses (15.8 percent), and systemization of management governance (11.4 percent).

For business restructuring, more respondents considered transparency in management (51.7 percent) as being more important than sharing the burden of restructuring (21.6 percent) and new vision after restructuring (20.4 percent).

In the end, respondents have shown that their hope for overcoming the crisis lies in the transformation of the business leadership to have the right mindset befitting their leadership and to run their business in a transparent manner.

Prosecutor¡¯s Office:

Concerning the Prosecutor¡¯s Office, the respondents chose loss of independence and neutrality (38.6 percent) and loss of people's trust (32.5 percent) as the two most serious problems. Following far behind were influence peddling once out of office (13.2 percent), lack of human rights awareness (9.6 percent), and regionalism (5.6 percent). Of the two most serious problems, the respondents were split slightly according to region.

Respondents in Seoul, Taejon and the Chungchong area considered the loss of independence and neutrality as the most serious, while those in Inchon, Kyonggi, Kwangju, and Cholla areas considered the loss of people's trust as the most serious. As for the solution for the redemption of the Prosecutor¡¯s Office, while most expressed that the government meddling must be severed (50.6 percent), many also pointed out that a self-examination and repentance were needed (31.0 percent).

Concerning the involvement of government officials in financial scandals, 90 percent of the respondents expressed that suspicions remained or has become greater following the investigation by the prosecutors, again revealing a general distrust of the Prosecutors' Office. Only 7.9 percent responded that their suspicions were laid to rest or they had not had any suspicion to begin with.

Regionally, 43.5 percent of the respondents in Pusan and the Kyongnam area responded that the suspicions have only grown after the investigations (43.6 percent), while those in Kwangju, Cholla and Taejon, Chungchong areas responded that the suspicions have remained after the investigations, 67.9 percent and 67.2 percent respectively. The numbers also reveal a regional difference concerning the distrust of the Prosecutor¡¯s Office.

President:

In terms of influential power, the president was next to politicians. But in terms of who should change first, he was ranked comparatively high, showing that the people still expect much of the president, himself.

Respondents cited as major problems with president personnel management based on nepotism (33.6 percent), concentration on North Korea policy (33.3 percent), arbitrary management of state affairs (18.9 percent) and lack of leadership and driving power (11.3 percent).

Those in Seoul, Pusan, South Kyongsang Province, Taejon and Chungchong areas cited the president¡¯s personnel management style as the most serious problem, while those in Kwangju, Cholla area, Taegu and North Kyongsang Province expressed their discontent with his arbitrary operation of state affairs more than the respondents in other regions.

Nearly half (43.3 percent) of the total said the president should devote himself to domestic administration first, while 26.1 percent called for fair personnel management, 15.1 percent for change in style in operating state affairs, 14.7 percent for supra-partisan management of state affairs.

Demand for placing priority on domestic administration was high across the nation, but the demand for fair personnel management was bigger in Seoul.

Those in Taegu and North Kyongsang Province cited the president¡¯s arbitrary style in managing state affairs as the most serious problem.

In Pusan and South Kyongsang Province, demand for placing top priority on domestic administration outnumbered others, while those in Kwangju and Cholla area stressed the need of nonpartisan operation of state affairs more than others.

As for the departure of the president from the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, nearly half of the respondents (44.4 percent) said the president should leave the party, vs. 35.2 percent who supported the president¡¯s party membership.

Those in Seoul, Pusan and the South Kyongsang Province area who supported the president¡¯s secession from the party registered 50.8 percent against 49.6 percent who opposed it. But those in Taejon, the Chungchong area and Kwangju-Cholla area favored the president¡¯s membership 54.2 percent to 43.1 percent.

Na Sun-Mee, expert advisor of Dong-a Media Research Institute