Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

A Country of Liars
In every country there are crimes that uniquely reflect its society. National Intelligence Service director-designate Kim Seung-kyu, in a lecture he gave late in May when he was justice minister, said: "The three representative crimes of our country are perjury, libel and fraud." In simple comparison, not taking into account population ratio, South Korea saw 16 times as many perjury cases in 2003 than Japan, 39 times as many libel cases and 26 times as many instances of fraud. That is extraordinarily high given Japan's population is three times our own. The common denominator of the three crimes is lying; in short, we live in a country of liars. The prosecution devotes 70 percent of its work to handling the three crimes, the former justice minister said. And because suspects lie so much, the indictment rate in fraud cases is 19.5 percent, in perjury 29 percent and in libel 43.1 percent. "Internationally, too, there is a perception that South Korea's representative crime is fraud," Kim said, adding that recent major scandals show how rampant lying is in this country.

Lying is so common in our society because few recognize that it leads to crime. "What's wrong with telling a little lie?" they think. And here the big problem is that men of power, rather than ordinary citizens, indulge in lying on a massive scale, to the point where it is regarded as a necessary means of survival in some circles.

More staggering lies were told by the president's associates in the KORAIL "Oilgate" scandal....

In Western European countries, the life of a politician or bureaucrat comes to an end when their lies are revealed. Mistakes they forgive; lies never. The lies of leaders and men of power are subject to punishment tens and hundreds of times heavier than that given ordinary people, and to call someone a liar is the ultimate insult. In Japan, children are taught from infancy that honesty and frankness are the highest personal values.
by Kim Dae-joong, Chosun Ilbo (July 3, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200507/200507030027.html

[chiaa]

You would not believe how many times we have had to verify with Korean customers that our website is legit. My wife had to talk to a Korean woman on the phone today to comfort her.

Now this is what I find the most funny about all this comforting we have to do with the customers. They sit there, talk to us on the phone and they feel comfortable. If we were really scam artists I tend to think we would be pretty good at making people feel comfortable...

Now, every internet website is required to have their license number and address on the bottom of their home page. License is given out by the Gu office, we are in Yongsan Gu, what would you do to check up on us to make sure we are legit.....

[funplanet]

love your store!!!

[Real Reality]

[chiaa]

damn RR you are quick on the draw.

[rumpolestitskin]

On reading this I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I know the article talks about fraud being ROK signature crime but does anyone have any ideas on how the international community views Korea with regards to lying and trustworthyness in a general sense?