Although I am not much of an outdoors person, I like to hike up the mountain near my home every morning. This daily ritual, which takes about half an hour, replenishes and invigorates me. There is one minor problem though. As soon as I start climbing, I am attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes that want to revel in an orgy of blood.

I bought a liquid mosquito repellent and sprayed it all over my body before trekking. The brand was famous, so I trusted it wholeheartedly. To my great disappointment, however, it did not work at all. Even though I had literally showered my body with the spray, the mosquitoes showed no mercy. Naturally, I lost my faith in that famous brand. Perhaps the mosquitoes had evolved into intelligent beings and had somehow acquired immunity. In any case, I have sworn off that brand and the company that makes it for the rest of my life.

According to recent news reports, some health food products in the market lack essential ingredients, even though they bear the government’s seal of approval. According to the reporter, health food companies submit their best-quality products for the government’s quality control inspection, but distribute poor-quality products in the market once they clear the test. Perhaps it did not occur to them that this act of cheating would end up costing them their credibility. Cheating may help you make money for a while, but it will ruin your business in the long run. In business, “Honesty is the best policy,” after all.

Likewise, if our society loses credibility, it will eventually fall apart. A society should be based on mutual trust, promises and agreements. If we do not trust each other, and break promises or flout agreements, our society will falter and eventually breakdown. That is why we should build a trustworthy society where we abide by rules and regulations, honor social contracts and exhibit public etiquette. If the members of a community do not trust each other and become suspicious, the society is doomed to perish.

Regrettably we can still see quite a few charlatans and confidence men in our society today. For example, gullible people fall victim to voice phishing and end up losing all their savings. A society where well-known companies disgrace their brands by selling defective or unhygienic products cannot be trustworthy. A society where college admissions officers sigh as they read countless student application essays that are near carbon copies of each other, presumably prepared by hagwon or cram schools, cannot be reliable. Yet, that is the reality we now face every day. Of course, there are many honest and decent people in our society, but as the Korean saying goes, “A mudfish can cloud clean waters.”

The same thing is true for a country. On seeing the body of a 3-year-old Syrian refugee boy washed ashore in Turkey, prostrate on his belly like an abandoned toy, we could not help but grieve and ponder on the role of a country. A country is supposed to protect its people at all costs. If people have to escape from a war-torn country or from a nation where political ideologists and religious fanatics are engaged in fratricide, then that nation cannot be said to be dependable.

A country should be trustworthy and reliable. If a country does not or cannot protect its people, they will turn their back on it or desert it. If a country does not keep its promises or honor its contracts, people will not trust it either. If a government does not enforce the law strictly, people may think their government is too weak. And if the government implements a new law and applies it retroactively, people will be very uneasy and uncomfortable, because it nullifies past contracts.

If the government frequently changes its policies or laws, people may find their government whimsical and unreliable. In Korea, whenever a new law is implemented, people know it will be temporary and thus abolished soon. Some people take advantage of this, while others patiently wait until the law is repealed. In the mid-1980s, for example, a law was implemented according to which those who received an M.A. were commissioned as second lieutenants and were allowed to finish their military service in just six months, while others had to serve for two to three years. At that time, many male collegians entered graduate schools to complete their compulsory military duty easily as an officer. Of course, the law was soon discontinued.

A society or a country should be built on mutual trust and reciprocal respect. Alas! In reality, we witness that in many countries, people want to overthrow the government if they did not vote for it, and the government tries to oppress its people when they protest. Instead of putting its people on a leash, the government should allow them to be free and treat them with respect. By the same token, people should respect their government as well. Then we can create a truly reliable, trustworthy society and country.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. -- Ed.