[Opinion] The Scandal-Ridden Sunset of Political Power

During his years in the opposition party, President Kim frequently said that public officials could choose only one between wealth and status. Yet, this is still a remote reality. The surest way to gain wealth, status, and fame in Korean society is entering politics and passing the civil service exam. If one wins the hard fight of political campaigning, politics is a speedway compared to the exam route.

Among high-ranking officials, there are those who enjoy a position comparable to government officials in the Choson era. The Chief Secretary to the President is the King`s advisor and Ministers are his cohort. The advisor still ranks higher than the cohorts. The Cheong Wa Dae holds all the power and the ministers must appease the `advisor`. It is, of course, only natural that the line to gain his favor gets longer and longer.

The press today often calls the Prime Minister the premier (of the king). The Public Prosecutors Office is compared to the royal justice hall who used to adjudicate capital crimes. In this outlook, it is impossible to know when the Public Prosecutors will be free from political influence. A mere glance at the raucous caused by the Prosecutor General`s procession in the regional cities demonstrates that Korean society still maintains the `government over people` and four-fold (scholar, farmer, artisan, tradesmen) feudal class structure.

One member of the U.S. House of Representatives sounded off alarms at an airport inspection gate because of his artificial hip, but he never revealed his official position. Such an incident would never happen at the Incheon International Airport since representatives and state ministers are specially entertained in VIP rooms.

The VIP registry at Incheon International has a considerable number of former high-ranking officials as well. These people will only use the VIP facility because standing in line with economy class passengers and being subjected to security and customs inspections is too humiliating for them. There is, of course, no legal basis for their use of the VIP facility . . . .

In an advanced democratic society, officialdom is neither status nor wealth. Choosing to become a state minister with small salaries when one could make millions as a company CEOs is doing service to one`s country. Hence, there is little fervor for taking the civil exam.

The reason why the number of applicants to the sciences in college mathematic skills exam is because the portion of the wealth-status-fame pie is larger for those who come out of the college of liberal arts. Seoul National University is in the process of establishing a huge civil service academy for people who want to transfer out of the sciences and prepare for civil service. If such trend of favoring the liberal arts does not change, it will be difficult for our schools to produce Nobel Prize winning physicists or chemists.

Some time ago, I heard a story from one businessman who was called to the Public Prosecutors Office during President Kim Yong-Sam`s term for offering bribes to former presidents Chun Doo-Hwan and Roh Tae-Woo.

"I couldn`t remember exactly how many times I had given the money to the two presidents. I was sweating bullets because the prosecutor was bullying me around saying that I couldn`t remember the exact number of times I gave the money when I had given countless millions to them."

The businessman concluded that the custom of the president taking control of all the chaebol corporations and expropriating money stopped because of President Kim Yong-Sam. In times past, presidents would spread billions to his associates before leaving office and have billions more to take home when leaving office, but, the man said, this did not happen after the civil government came to power.

Yet, because the chief secretaries were busily taking in money, the presidency symbolized by a simple bowl of noodles lost its light. Since the chief secretary collected money from so many different places, he repeatedly entered and exited the prison door after the administration changed hands. In the case of the Kim Dae-Jung administration, the secretary responsible for overseeing public officials received money from a businessman under investigation, making it difficult for anyone to say that the chief secretary is responsible for damaging the President`s reputation.

The Kim Yong-Sam administration was hit hard by scandal at the end of its term. The Kim Dae-Jung administration is sinking because individuals who sweated blood and tears to get to such positions of power, fame, and wealth have fallen into scandal while trying to gather a measly amount of money.

It is the sad state of Korean politics to see people, who seemed to have gained everything when they first rose to power, to pack their bags after five years and head for the U.S. when the change of power takes place. The setting sun burning bright is beautiful, but its political equivalent is marred by dirty scandals.

In the beginning of the elections, there were lines of politicians trying to put their stamp on the presidential runners. Since victory in the election brings many riches and much influence, the more powerful the candidate, greater the number of people who gather around him, seeking their fortune and fame. If our consciousness about public office does not change, the five-year term tragedy will only repeat itself in the next administration.

Hwang Ho-Taek (Editorial Staff Writer)

hthwang@donga.com