Offering gifts or offering bribes? Code of ethics in South Korea

Journal of Third World Studies, Spring 2001 by Chang, Chan Sup, Chang, Nahn Joo, Freese, Barbara T

However, bribery is a very serious social problem in South Korea. The following story is an example of how bribes work in the construction industry in that country.20 Mr. Lee planned to build a five-story building of 500 pyong (17,850 square feet). When he initially filed an application for a building permit, he was rejected by the official on the grounds that the application form was incomplete. He applied again, but the official still did not grant a permit. His building designer suggested that he must give 1,000 won per pyong to the official to obtain a building permit. So he gave 500,000 won ($641) to the official and subsequently obtained a permit.

Before he could start construction, Mr. Lee had to give 100,000 won ($128) to the fire station officials to obtain a fire protection permit. He then gave money to the city officials to report his construction. He then gave 100,000 won ($128) to the police station in the precinct and he gave cash to the police officer who visited his construction site each month until the construction was completed. When one local government official approached him, he had to give him 100, 000 won ($128), and an additional 100,000 won ($128) each for two inspections. After the construction was completed, he had to give 800,000 won ($1,026) again to the fire station for their final approval and 1,500,000 won ($1,923) to the construction office of the city government to obtain a certificate of completion for his building. By the time the building was completed Mr. Lee had given over 3,300,000 won ($4,100) to various officials to obtain their approval for construction.

Rather than being a unique case, Mr. Lee's experience is one of the commonly practiced patterns of conducting business in South Korea. A naturalized Korean from Germany21 lamented an epidemic practice of bribery by many Korean business persons and warned of immorality among Koreans. Lee,22 citing a report in Asian Business published in Hong Kong, warned Korea that the country cannot maintain world competitiveness unless it staged a serious war against bribery and corruption. Asian Business indicated that corruption through bribery had become an integral part of Korean business, and that it was crucial for outside business persons to learn to deal with this corruption of bribery.

Bribery is not confined to the business sector in South Korea. It is also evident in the military. If a full colonel wants to be promoted to a brigadier general, he must be prepared to spend at least 100 million won ($100,000) as a bribe. Koreans claim that the real value of one star is 100 million won.23

Another example of bribery occurs in colleges and universities. If a Korean wants to be appointed as a full-time instructor, he or she must spend at least 100 million won ($100,000) to guarantee a job in any four-year college.24 A little less money may be sufficient for two-year technical colleges, with the cost for appointment ranging from 50 million won ($50,000) to 60 million won ($60,000). These figures suggest that Koreans must buy their teaching jobs.