ROH REGRETS - LEADERSHIP, CULTURE AND POLITICS IN SOUTH-KOREA

South Korea has, in recent years, suffered a number of serious corrupt ion scandals reaching to the very top of the political and economic wo rlds. This article attempts to explain why corruption scandals are so frequent in Korea. It suggests that practices that in the West are reg arded as corrupt are seen as acceptable in Korea, but that nevertheles s Koreans do take corruption very seriously. Korean culture is if anyt hing less willing than western culture to see corrupt behaviour as nor mal; at the same time it is particularly susceptible to behaviour that is, within its own terms, corrupt. Corruption scandals are therefore frequent, both because there are pressures encouraging corruption, and because corruption, when exposed, is indeed seen as scandalous.