After months of a scandal that laid bare corruption, influence-peddling and an unbelievable lack of discipline in the nation’s highest office, it may be only natural that people lose faith in the government.

But a recent survey, released by Edelman in February, shows that South Koreans took it pretty hard. Nearly 9 out of 10 South Koreans surveyed said they did not trust the nation’s system. Public trust in the government took a particularly drastic fall, with only 28 percent expressing confidence, down 7 percentage points from the previous year. The global average is 41 percent.

If this is a temporary reaction to the shocking scandal of former President Park Geun-hye, South Korea should see improvements going forward, as a new administration is to take office in early May.

But there are worrying signs that indicate otherwise.

The lack of public trust in the government, business, media and social institutions is a problem that has grown for years. The latest incident may simply have dealt a critical blow to a level of public trust that was already low.

To understand this reality, one need to turn to none other than the person who just three weeks ago was the commander-in-chief of this country.

Former President Park, after being expelled from power in a unanimous decision by the Constitutional Court, maintained her defiant stance that she had been framed by her opponents in the parliament, law enforcement, court and the media.

“The truth will reveal itself someday,” was the message that she famously sent after the court ruling to a public that had anxiously waited for her concession.

Even today, Park’s supporters are waving national flags near her private home in southern Seoul, openly displaying distrust in almost every single institution in this country. The prosecution, court and parliament and the media seem like their main enemies.

Some 470 kilometers south, just off the island of Jindo, a corroded passenger ship is lying on its port side on a transport vessel, another symbol of a divided and disbelieving South Korea.

The Sewol ferry sank with over 300 passengers in April of 2014 and was raised from under the water last week. Once it is moved to shore, the wreck will be searched for the bodies of nine missing passengers and evidence of what caused it to sink.

Why it sank and why the government failed to rescue so many has been formally investigated, but not many South Koreans believe what they were told.

Instead, some came up with their own theories. An anonymous internet user, calling himself a “cyber investigator,” had even suggested a submarine crash and a state-led cover-up to be behind the tragic sinking.

Rumors ran wild that the former president was up to something other than work, like plastic surgery, while the entire nation was glued to TV overwhelmed by the national tragedy.

The mystery of Park’s “missing seven hours” was one of the reasons she was impeached by the parliament, although the Constitutional Court didn’t see it as an impeachable charge.

To be sure, the government‘s incompetence, indifference and lack of transparency had fueled public distrust.

It is needless to say that trust is essential.

Studies by sociologists show when trust is high in a society, crime and corruption are low.

In his 1995 work “Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity,” US scholar Francis Fukuyama argued that trust is the most pervasive cultural characteristic influencing a nation’s prosperity and global competitiveness. Even then, more than two decades ago, Korea was categorized as a low-trust society, along with China and Italy.

Many of the social problems confronting South Korea today are linked to the trust issue, local scholars say.

The next president will face countless challenges upon taking office on May 10, with the economy slowing, China retaliating against local companies over a military defense system here, North Korea ratcheting up missile threats. But the most daunting of all lies in the hearts of people who have grown ever more disapproving.


By Lee Sun-young

Lee Sun-young is the national desk editor of The Korea Herald. She can be reached at milaya@heraldcorp.com – Ed.