Social justice level in Korea to stay low in 2020: report

"Media is full of news on corruption by high-ranking government officials, business leaders and rich people. Parents try not to send their sons to mandatory military service and candidates for Cabinet ministers turn out to be corrupt in the screening process. Frankly, immorality is engulfing the country".

Advertisement

So said a report on the general public by 19 researchers and professors at the behest of the Strategy and Finance Ministry. The results were discouraging when it came to fairness level, which has eroded considerably due to decline in leadership morality, with little signs of improving going forward.

Based on the results, the ministry released Thursday a report meant to "enhance the quality of Korean society". National noblesse oblige measured 2.67 on a scale of 10 and is expected to reach just 4.88 by 2020. The level of law observance by social and public leaders was an unsurprising 4.83, up from 3.17 in 2011, but still below mid-level. The level of transparency in government-business relations in 2020 was projected at 4.29, up from 2.5 last year. "Skepticism is prevailing in our society that the immorality of social and public leaders will not improve", the report said.

Distrust of societal leaders has prompted people to think lowly of the level of social justice. Upward movements in income or social strata were forecast to be continuously difficult at 4.05 in 2020, only slightly up from 3.5 last year.

Choi Hang-sup, a sociology professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, said, "Social leaders should take the initiative and show special consideration of others while observing the law themselves. A social system is needed to break down collectivism of the legal and medical sectors to realize fairness".

The ability to overcome economic crisis was expected to drop to 5.31 in 2020 from 5.57 last year. Risks to economic outlooks included a steady decline in potential growth rate, low facility investment ratio and technological innovation capability, and the delay in restructuring of declining industries.

The ratio of welfare spending to GDP was forecast to increase to 12.8 percent from 8.3 percent over the same period, contributing to strengthening the social safety net. Yet the survey found a lingering lack of financing for sustainable welfare.

The low birth rate and aging population were projected to ease thanks to a strong government policy drive, but family disorganization was expected to worsen due to a weaker sense of obligation toward supporting aged parents and a rising divorce rate.