A group of college professors has picked the four character Chinese idiom "Hasahyeonjeong," meaning a fight for right against wrong as the expression that best describes this year's social atmosphere in South Korea, the Kyosu Sinmun weekly said Sunday, amid the government's drive to remove "accumulated ills" of past governments and restore public trust.

In an online survey conducted by the weekly from Nov. 30 to Dec. 9, operated by the country's three professors' bodies, 34 percent of the 1,000 respondents singled out the idiom, which is also interpreted as refuting false doctrines and bringing out the truth, as one representing the society's mood.

Choi Kyung-bong, a Korean language professor at Wonkwang University who recommended the idiom, along with Choi Jae-mok, an Eastern philosophy professor at Yeungnam University, said, "In the middle of wicked opinions and evil ways, citizens raised candles as a way to reveal truth and established a foundation to put the country back on track."

Choi's remarks referred to candlelight rallies launched by millions of South Koreans last year to call for then-President Park Geun-hye's resignation over an influence-peddling scandal and the emergence of the liberal government led by President Moon Jae-in this year.