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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Dave Chance
Joined: 30 May 2011
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 Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 5:12 pm Post subject: Korea, the beacon of Confucian honesty |
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2012/05/202_111954.html
05-29-2012 17:33
Of the 34 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, Korea ranked 27th in the CPI. A survey of corruption levels in Asia, announced by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) this year, placed Korea 11th among 16 countries.
It�s a shame considering that Korea is the world�s 11th largest economy and its export ranking places it ninth in the world. In this respect, a report analyzing the relationship between corruption and economic growth may have profound implications for Korea. |
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Zackback
Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: Kyungbuk
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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| What kind of implications will it have on them since they seem to be doing so well as it is? |
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pegasus64128
Joined: 20 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Zackback wrote: |
| What kind of implications will it have on them since they seem to be doing so well as it is? |
+1 |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Zackback wrote: |
| What kind of implications will it have on them since they seem to be doing so well as it is? |
Corruption reduces market efficiency. It means they could be doing better. |
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Dave Chance
Joined: 30 May 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| pegasus64128 wrote: |
| Zackback wrote: |
| What kind of implications will it have on them since they seem to be doing so well as it is? |
+1 |
-2
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/kore-s27.shtml
Social inequality worsening in South Korea
By Ben McGrath
27 September 2011
Like governments around the world, however, Lee made clear that the burden of the crisis would be imposed on working people. He called for greater sacrifice from the working class, in the name of national unity. �During the 2008 financial crisis, we shared the pain believing that the united efforts of 10 people would make it easier to help one person. Through the �job-sharing� program, which is not found in other countries, and intensive assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises, Korea was able to ride out the crisis without massive layoffs and a chain of bankruptcies,� he said.
�Job-sharing� served to subordinate workers to the demands of the corporate elite and slash living standards. The program was initiated by Lee in 2009, first in the public sector, then in major corporations like Samsung and Ssangyong, with the collaboration of the trade unions. It meant wage cuts of up to 30 percent as well as tax breaks for employers to take on unemployed workers or college graduates at much lower wages than previous entrants to the workforce.
The largest corporations in particular have enjoyed higher profits by implementing job-sharing. The Korea Herald reported on August 23 that in 2010, the combined sales of the 539 manufacturing affiliates of the country�s top 10 conglomerates reached 756 trillion won ($US680 billion), or 41.1 percent of the manufacturing sector�s total. The share values of the top business groups reached 698.7 trillion won ($628 billion) as of August 1, accounting for more than 52 percent of the total listed on the stock exchange�up from 44.5 percent in 2008.
Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98, the government has encouraged banks to issue as many credit cards as possible in order to boost consumer spending. The Korea Herald reported that as a result of this reckless practice, household debt reached record levels in June, totalling 876.3 trillion won ($762 billion). According to Reuters on August 25, average debt reached 155 percent of disposable income�exceeding the 138 percent level in the US at the beginning of the subprime crisis in 2007.
Like American workers, South Korean workers have been forced to take on more and more debt due to declining wages. According to figures from the National Tax Service last August, per capita earnings for the lowest 20 percent of workers liable for general income tax decreased by 35 percent between 1999 and 2009.
In no small part, this decline in wages came from casualisation of employment. The number of irregular workers�workers without contracts�has risen sharply since 1998. Today, more than half of the workforce, or 17 million people, are considered irregular, earning an average of just 1.35 million won a month ($1,145), or 57 percent of the regular average wage. Irregular workers are also subjected to workplace discrimination and firing at the whim of employers.
The result has been a rapid expansion of cheap labour. International Labour Organisation statistics show that workers earning two-thirds less than median wage comprise 25.6 percent of the workforce, compared to 24.8 percent in the US and 15 percent in Japan.
The so-called �poor class��defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development as households earning less than 50 percent of the median income�increased to 3.52 million or over 20 percent of the total in 2009, double the OECD average of 10.6 percent. The so-called middle classes, earning 50-150 percent of the median income, declined from 60.4 percent in 2003 to 55.5 percent in 2009, according to Statistics Korea.
By sharp contrast, the top corporate executives�including President Lee, a former Hyundai CEO�have made extraordinary fortunes. The 2011 list of the 40 richest individuals in South Korea saw a record of 21 US dollar billionaires, up from 11 in 2010 and 5 in 2009. Last year, they added more than $20 billion to their collective wealth, now worth $65.6 billion.
Samsung�s Lee Kun-hee is No.1, with net wealth of $9.3 billion, ahead of Hyundai Motor�s Chung Mong-koo, whose fortune jumped 80 percent to $7.4 billion last year. That was not the most dramatic rise. Nexon online gaming owner Kim Jung-ju leapt 260 percent to $2.06 billion, while Mirae Asset Management Group�s Park Hyeon-joo tripled his worth to $1.5 billion.
Sections of the ruling elite are warning about the explosive consequences of this sharp polarisation between the powerful corporate elite and millions of poorly-paid workers. Former Premier Chung Un-chan warned in July that the gap between rich and poor had reached such a �grave level� that there was a �possibility of our society collapsing.� This was �a more serious matter than relations with North Korea,� he said. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 9:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I have a friend who is a manager at a chaebol. They brought in some students from 2 year universities to work in dream chaebol jobs because of Lee's program. The one guy they got is a total social misfit and was a huge burden on the department. Many who go to 2 year schools here are downright messed-up, according to him. |
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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 12:33 am Post subject: |
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| I hear Samsung's founding family collaborated with the Japanese colonial government when Korea was ruled by Japan. Critics of Korea are often deemed anti-Korean yet... |
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definitely maybe
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 5:55 am Post subject: |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| I have a friend who is a manager at a chaebol. They brought in some students from 2 year universities to work in dream chaebol jobs because of Lee's program. The one guy they got is a total social misfit and was a huge burden on the department. Many who go to 2 year schools here are downright messed-up, according to him. |
Having taught at a 2-year college, I can comfortably say that a significant portion of the students that I encountered were grossly incompetent, extraordinarily lazy, and shockingly entitled. Unfortunately, a large number of the students who attend these schools were not at all interested in studying in middle or high school, and continue the trend in college. Then there are the ones who are just plain weirdos . . . |
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pegasus64128
Joined: 20 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| Dave Chance wrote: |
| pegasus64128 wrote: |
| Zackback wrote: |
| What kind of implications will it have on them since they seem to be doing so well as it is? |
+1 |
-2
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/kore-s27.shtml
Social inequality worsening in South Korea
By Ben McGrath
27 September 2011
Like governments around the world, however, Lee made clear that the burden of the crisis would be imposed on working people. He called for greater sacrifice from the working class, in the name of national unity. �During the 2008 financial crisis, we shared the pain believing that the united efforts of 10 people would make it easier to help one person. Through the �job-sharing� program, which is not found in other countries, and intensive assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises, Korea was able to ride out the crisis without massive layoffs and a chain of bankruptcies,� he said.
�Job-sharing� served to subordinate workers to the demands of the corporate elite and slash living standards. The program was initiated by Lee in 2009, first in the public sector, then in major corporations like Samsung and Ssangyong, with the collaboration of the trade unions. It meant wage cuts of up to 30 percent as well as tax breaks for employers to take on unemployed workers or college graduates at much lower wages than previous entrants to the workforce.
The largest corporations in particular have enjoyed higher profits by implementing job-sharing. The Korea Herald reported on August 23 that in 2010, the combined sales of the 539 manufacturing affiliates of the country�s top 10 conglomerates reached 756 trillion won ($US680 billion), or 41.1 percent of the manufacturing sector�s total. The share values of the top business groups reached 698.7 trillion won ($628 billion) as of August 1, accounting for more than 52 percent of the total listed on the stock exchange�up from 44.5 percent in 2008.
Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98, the government has encouraged banks to issue as many credit cards as possible in order to boost consumer spending. The Korea Herald reported that as a result of this reckless practice, household debt reached record levels in June, totalling 876.3 trillion won ($762 billion). According to Reuters on August 25, average debt reached 155 percent of disposable income�exceeding the 138 percent level in the US at the beginning of the subprime crisis in 2007.
Like American workers, South Korean workers have been forced to take on more and more debt due to declining wages. According to figures from the National Tax Service last August, per capita earnings for the lowest 20 percent of workers liable for general income tax decreased by 35 percent between 1999 and 2009.
In no small part, this decline in wages came from casualisation of employment. The number of irregular workers�workers without contracts�has risen sharply since 1998. Today, more than half of the workforce, or 17 million people, are considered irregular, earning an average of just 1.35 million won a month ($1,145), or 57 percent of the regular average wage. Irregular workers are also subjected to workplace discrimination and firing at the whim of employers.
The result has been a rapid expansion of cheap labour. International Labour Organisation statistics show that workers earning two-thirds less than median wage comprise 25.6 percent of the workforce, compared to 24.8 percent in the US and 15 percent in Japan.
The so-called �poor class��defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development as households earning less than 50 percent of the median income�increased to 3.52 million or over 20 percent of the total in 2009, double the OECD average of 10.6 percent. The so-called middle classes, earning 50-150 percent of the median income, declined from 60.4 percent in 2003 to 55.5 percent in 2009, according to Statistics Korea.
By sharp contrast, the top corporate executives�including President Lee, a former Hyundai CEO�have made extraordinary fortunes. The 2011 list of the 40 richest individuals in South Korea saw a record of 21 US dollar billionaires, up from 11 in 2010 and 5 in 2009. Last year, they added more than $20 billion to their collective wealth, now worth $65.6 billion.
Samsung�s Lee Kun-hee is No.1, with net wealth of $9.3 billion, ahead of Hyundai Motor�s Chung Mong-koo, whose fortune jumped 80 percent to $7.4 billion last year. That was not the most dramatic rise. Nexon online gaming owner Kim Jung-ju leapt 260 percent to $2.06 billion, while Mirae Asset Management Group�s Park Hyeon-joo tripled his worth to $1.5 billion.
Sections of the ruling elite are warning about the explosive consequences of this sharp polarisation between the powerful corporate elite and millions of poorly-paid workers. Former Premier Chung Un-chan warned in July that the gap between rich and poor had reached such a �grave level� that there was a �possibility of our society collapsing.� This was �a more serious matter than relations with North Korea,� he said. |
"In both Brazil and South Korea from the 1970s to the �80s, when the nonagricultural share of employment (as a proxy for the degree of proletarianization) rose above 70 percent, the working-class movement emerged as a powerful social and political force. A similar development is now taking place in Egypt."
http://monthlyreview.org/2011/06/01/the-rise-of-the-working-class-and-the-future-of-the-chinese-revolution
Seems cyclical to me. Cyclical corruption maybe, but cyclical. Much of this corruption is a price Korea pays for economic success, and it has worked depending on your perspective. I hate corruption but what good is a non-corrupt society if it can't afford itself. Korea can afford itself.
-1 at you for seeing only in terms of the negative spin of this "corruption", which is relative. Zackback's rhetorical question is a valid one.
+1 for your informative post though. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| Yaya wrote: |
| I hear Samsung's founding family collaborated with the Japanese colonial government when Korea was ruled by Japan. Critics of Korea are often deemed anti-Korean yet... |
There are contradictions there for sure. Some companies or richer families would have cooperated with the ruling power for the simple reason that there was money to be made. A sad reality and it was not the lot of all people under the Japanese colonial regime. Some chose to cooperate/collaborate, others to resist and probably the vast majority chose the middle road of keeping their heads down and trying to have a life. |
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slothrop
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 9:36 am Post subject: |
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edit
Last edited by slothrop on Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 2:13 am Post subject: |
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Corruption is quite deeply ingrained in Korean culture. Cash incentives, bungs, under the table payments - whatever you want to call it - it seems like everyone from the local pastor to the Principal of your elementary school, all the way up to government is on the take.
In Korea, it's just taking care of bidness.. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| cj1976 wrote: |
Corruption is quite deeply ingrained in Korean culture. Cash incentives, bungs, under the table payments - whatever you want to call it - it seems like everyone from the local pastor to the Principal of your elementary school, all the way up to government is on the take.
In Korea, it's just taking care of bidness.. |
There is corruption to be sure. The bribe is alive and well and in fact is part of doing business, much like it is in China and Japan. In other places the corruption is better hidden...in places like say France where Ex-President Chirac was accused of massive fraud the minute he stepped down from office! I think that anyone who reaches power (ie governing a country) is bought at some point on his way up. What happens then is managing this and the degree it takes. |
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Dave Chance
Joined: 30 May 2011
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| I have a friend who is a manager at a chaebol. They brought in some students from 2 year universities to work in dream chaebol jobs because of Lee's program. The one guy they got is a total social misfit and was a huge burden on the department. Many who go to 2 year schools here are downright messed-up, according to him. |
Maybe. Samsung has had this program in place for at least a decade and few accepted for it last. That most Samsung management has the preconceived idea that they will fail probably has much to do with the program's failures.
As for the example you give they may well have considered him a "total social misfit" because he didn't graduate from a SKY university.
I did know one director years back who had first worked at Pohang Steel--on the floor- and then gone to a junior college. Other Samsung managers described him as strange. His employees loved him for the fair and equal treatment he accorded them. |
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