Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cmxc]

Korean corruption scandals I have read in the Korean newspapers in the past few years:
Korea Nuclear Power Co (KEPCO)
Korean Basketball (match throwing)
Korean Baseball (match throwing)
Korean Volleyball (match throwing)
Korean Buddhist Monks (gambling, prostitution, embezzlement)
Korean Churches (huge one in Yoido among others)
Korean TOEFL/SAT cheating (hagwons providing answers, etc)
Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK, Hanwha, Tonyang, Hyosung, CJ, etc (every Korean chaebol)
Korean Presidential Press spokesperson
Korean Savings Banks corruption
Korean university's private owner embezzling funds
Korean actresses being forced to provide sexual favors (suicide of Jang Jayeon)
etc, etc, etc

In a nutshell, there is simply not one single aspect of Korea that is not tainted by corruption. Education, and so much of the work that all the ESL instructors do in Korea has so little real impact on the deep rooted practices of corruption that are pervasive here.

I have a very hard time looking my young students in the face and trying to tell them that studying hard, applying themselves and pursuing their dreams is the best way for them to live their lives when I know that corruption, bribery, etc, will pervert whatever aspirations they have.

How do you reconcile trying to make a difference in the lives of young people while knowing that the society in which the young people grow up is thoroughly and intractably corrupt through and through?

Legacy of corruption still exists in South Korea:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/7/legacy-of-corruption-still-exists-in-south-korea/?page=all


Alleged corruption taints Miss Korea contest:
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20131021000723

[Who's Your Daddy?]

It's Korea's business to manage or clean up "their" country, not mine.

I'm glad I have a Canadian passport and can take my wife and son with me.

[Unposter]

First off, I'd just like to say this is going to be a great thread! I can't wait for the fireworks...

And, in a similar vein, I'd just like to say that I just watched this TED Talk about how creative people cheat more. So, I guess maybe Koreans are the most creative people on the planet since they cheat so much.

You know correlation and logic.

And, you teach your students because you hope (expect) them to make the world a better place, regardless whether they are Korean or whether the world is a less than ideal place, because trust me the world has always been a less than ideal place.

[Smithington]

Every country has its corrupt elements. The difference with Korea, it seems, is that corruption touches almost every aspect of life here. From Samsung executives down to the lowliest hogwan, corrupt practices seem to be the norm - and accepted as such. Just within our own ESL industry we have witnessed how omnipresent shady practices are.

Korea is one shady lady.

[KimchiNinja]

Hmm well, I come from the US and find KR to be less corrupt in my industry, in some ways. In our negotiations with KR firms we try to get them to take the money and screw over their countrymen (because we are bastards). Any American firm would take the money offered by CN and maximize profit (the only metric of "success" in the US), while short selling their society. But in KR they decline profit, citing public best interest.

My US office mates just can't get it, since thinking of the best interest of society is not part of US decision making, societal damage is referred to as "an externality" in the US. They thus claim Koreans are idiots incapable of doing math. But actually they are smart, and thinking longer-term. I would classify that as being less corrupt.

Also the "corruption" in CN and KR don't really bother me, fine with most of it in general. It's very straight forward honest corruption. More dangerous is US style corruption; there are strict rules, and thus much more elaborate plans to break those rules.

[jvalmer]

At least in Korea/Asia, even if you have to pay someone, whatever you're wanting to do will probably be done. Although things like quality may suffer, but depends on how much you press them on it. It's more greasing the wheels.

On the other hand, corruption in a country like Russia will go like this... You pay one corrupt guy, then he'll send a few big muscle heads to your family home asking for more money. You'll pay, but you aren't too sure that you'll actually get your final product. Clog the wheels until it breaks kind of corruption.

[andrewchon]

No, there's nothing in Korea that isn't corrupt. Korea is No. 1 in corruption! Nobody can beat us in corruption! YOU UNDERSTAND?

[KimchiNinja]

Good point, a man can get things done in Asia. Make a deal with the man in charge, shake hands, done.

[jvalmer]

A lot of corruption is pretty hazy, due to past 'promises' or 'deals' made that need to be honored in Asian culture.

An example, say in 1955-ish, just after the Korean war, you're a young man from the North with little family in the south. You go to school and meet a few friends that happen to be from wealthy families. You ask for a some money to start a company. 40 years down the road that company is a multi-national billion dollar company. One of your friends that lent you money hits hard times. His, young, yet not so bright, grandson needs a job. You hire him as some mid-manager, in a pretty unimportant part of your company even though there were 20 other guys who were much more qualified for the job.

Would you do the same? Is this corruption?

[Drew345]

Last time I was home in America, I felt the "tipping" culture is starting to border on corruption. You want your coffee made, want you ice cream dished out, want on this shuttle bus, want a hair cut... then put a dollar or two here.

[Steelrails]

At least in the U.S., after The Bush Administration, Ahmed Chalabi, Enron, WMD, Scooter Libby, Valarie Plame, Robert Hansen, Hurricane Katrina, Halliburton, The Patriot Act, Fox News, Fast and Furious, Drone Strikes, Fannie & Freddie, Madoff, Blagoievich, William Jefferson, Kwame Kilpatrick, Bernard Kerik, Harriet Myers, Benghazi, Tom DeLay, Jim Trafficant, IRS & The Tea Party, Lawyergate, Abramoff, Ted Stevens, and Duke Cunningham I'm a little immune to comparing corruption. And that was just largely politicians.

Not to mention Penn State, the NCAA, Virtually every football program in the SEC, legions of basketball programs, steroids, Tim Donaghy, BALCO, Jayson Blair, Church scandals, Public Schools fraud, cops gone wild, Girls Gone Wild, Steubenville, Duke LaCross, illegal immigrant labor everywhere, Teamster's Unions, and whatever else Nancy Grace can dig up.

In Korea, we run across it less because we don't know the language and aren't tied to their corruption. But yeah, things are corrupt are more corrupt here in certain ways, and just as bad in many ways back home.

[fermentation]

Is there any human society that's not corrupt?

[yodanole]

"I have a very hard time looking my very young students in the face...."

So....What?........Just say to the students...........why wait, off yourself now.........and avoid the rush? Otherwise, life still has to go on, besides... Knowledge for it's own sake is still a worthwhile pursuit for some. Maybe that's just me.

[PatrickGHBusan]

OP, no, it is all corrupted and therefore useless.

There, you got the answer you wanted, now you can move on to another thread and perhaps ask another loaded question.

[Steelrails]

Note, I'm putting this out there in a historical and cultural context, not a theological one.

Almost every human society has had religion. In almost all of those religions there has been some view that there is a certain inherent corruptness or flaw in people's souls that they have to struggle with.

The fact that there is this near universal view, suggests that corruption is near universal in human societies, and indeed in people.

If you believe yourself not to be corrupt and incapable of corruption, or your society not to be corrupt, you are likely very naive and likely have never been in a position to really have to deal with that to a level where you would be put to the test.

Might as well be asking "What's the point in living, we're just going to die" or "What's the point in working? The government is just going to take it all away".