South Korea agonized over morality

Suddenly it seems like a case of "all fall down" in South Korea. President Kim Young Sam began his term in 1993 with the aura of being his country's first civilian to be elected head. But with a year left to his one-term limit, the Hanbo loan embarrassment which exploded in his face last month threatens to cancel out what goodwill he had gained fighting corruption, such as a 1993 law banning the use of assumed names for bank accounts.

On Tuesday, Kim apologized to the nation on television for what had happened. So as to appear even-handed, he banished from public life one of his sons, who had questionable connections with the Hanbo management, although he had been cleared by state prosecutors after an investigation. The public is likely to put the worst possible construction on the latter move. As in Japan, saying sorry, shedding a few tears for good effect and then carrying on much as before, may well dishonor a North Asian ritual which people in Southeast Asia do not comprehend. So, too, the resignation of the entire cabinet a day later. Cabinets have resigned en masse before, only to be reinstalled weeks later. What appears to be the purpose?

Two things can do some good for the people's battered faith. The Hanbo probe, which is still on, must lead to a clear conclusion. This matters to international investors and countries which trade with South Korea; it is not merely to prosecute a course of justice. A company which could run up US$6 billion in debts on an equity base 20 times less, and plead bankruptcy, could do so only by bending rules and getting a hand from people in high places. Ten persons have been charged so far, including the home minister and Hanbo's founder. The Korean nation is watching for what happens next. Convictions will be proper, but wholesale law changes will be more lasting. The second step, much the harder, is to abandon the ritualistic practice of apologizing -- which, unfortunately, has connotations of sweeping dirt under the carpet -- and go for a genuine change of culture and mind-set in dealings between business and the powers that be.

-- The Straits Times, Singapore