OPINION> FROM THE CHINESE PRESS
More than a personal tragedy
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-26 07:53

Quite a few incidents of family corruption in South Korea involve its highest national leaders. The phenomenon may be attributed more to systemic flaws in the political culture of the country rather than to personal moral deficiency, says an article in The Beijing News. Excerpt:

Tens of thousands of people in South Korea mourned the death of former president Roh Moo-hyun.

Roh enjoyed nationwide popularity particularly for his insistence on clean government. However, after retirement, Roh was implicated in a series of family corruption scandals, which occurred during his presidency.

He is not the first former South Korean president to be questioned on allegations of corruption. The phenomenon of the highest national leaders being accused of corruption should be ascribed more to the systemic flaws of the country's political culture rather than any personal moral deficiency.

Since the institutionalization of South Korean politics is yet to attain the desired level of maturity, the system endows individual political figures with extraordinary status and almost limitless power. In addition, commercial interests are closely bound to politics.

In the event, the lesson South Korea should learn from the death of Roh is the need to strongly regulate the relationship between commerce and politics, place more emphasis on political ethics and reinforce checks in the political system for prevention of corruption.

(China Daily 05/26/2009 page8)