Half of expats deem civil service corrupt

Over half of the expatriates polled regard Korean public servants as corrupt.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission yesterday released the result of its survey of 200 foreigners working at Seoul-based embassies, chambers of commerce and companies.

According to the survey, 50.5 percent of respondents said Korean civil servants are corrupt, whereas only 17.5 percent described them as free of corruption. The perception worsened from last year, when only 45.5 percent answered that Korean government workers are corrupt.

The foreigners` corruption index lowered to 4.05 from last week`s 4.16. The index scores are out of 10, with zero being the most corrupt.

The survey showed nearly 60 percent of foreigners believe Korea`s government sector corruption "gravely" hinders business activities here, the ACRC said.

In the poll, 5.5 percent of respondents answered they had been offered or, were asked for, bribes, gifts or entertainment from Korean public servants in the last 12 months. Some said they participated in the bribery to meet demands of Korean officials.

Half of the respondents said they believe Korea`s private sector to be corrupt, while merely 14.5 percent said the opposite.

The foreigners attributed the corruption mostly to Korea`s culture, which they deem to be susceptible to and tolerant of corruption.

Since his inauguration in February, President Lee Myung-bak has repeatedly pledged to improve the nation`s business environment and speed up deregulatory reforms to increase investments from abroad.

Korea this year ranked 40th out of 180 countries in a global anti-corruption index, according to the Transparency International, the German-based non-governmental integrity agency.

By Jin Dae-woong



(davidpooh@heraldm.com)