Koreans think leading social class shirks duties

91 percent say this group gets away with corruption, as well

As much as 83.7 percent of the country thinks the social class believed to play the role of leading the country because of socioeconomic or political status is not carrying out its moral obligations commensurate with its status and prestige.

A survey of 1,500 adults by the Korean Pact on Anti-Corruption and Transparency (K-Pact) performed between November 13 and 22 found that almost as many people, 83.1 percent, think this upper echelon is even ignoring its basic civil obligations such as military service and taxes.

A full 90.8 percent of respondents said members of this elite group get lenient treatment even if caught committing corruption. The most common forms of corruption among this group is believed to be accepting bribes (41.1%), tax evasion (34.7%), and speculative real estate investment (33.2%).

Only 15.8 percent said they trust this "leadership class," lower than the 17.1 percent who said they trusted it in last year's survey. 32.1 percent said the "leading" social class is more corrupt than it was 10 years ago.

"The 'societal leadership class' can only have the country's confidence again if it tries to implement noblesse oblige and has the law fairly applied to it regarding acts of corruption, and without exception," said a K-Pact official.

Please direct questions or comments to [[e-mail]]