Good morning, fellow Koreans,

Recently, various corruption scandals have erupted, and I am well aware of your deep concerns. Corruption has been embedded in our society for a long time. It is also true that we have not keenly recognized the gravity of the problem because of the thinking that corruption is more or less commonplace.

It took Korea only 30 to 40 years to achieve the economic growth that advanced Western countries achieved over 100 to 200 years. During the process of such compressed growth, small and big instances of corruption and irregularities have insidiously become knitted into our daily lives.

When my Administration put forth a fair society as a vision for running state affairs last year, I began to look back at these problems. A significant part of what we regard as common practices fails to meet the standards of a fair society. Such customary corruption and irregularities are taking hope away from our young people and causing low-income families to become dejected.

The same is true for the recent scandal involving the savings banks, which enraged working-class people. The root cause of the problem, of course, lies in the criminal corruption perpetrated by the major shareholders and management. But what lurks behind this situation, which has deteriorated to such an extent, is the practice of retired senior officials expecting special treatment from their former colleagues and receiving special consideration.

This practice is rampant not only in financial supervisory organizations but also in other sectors in society, ranging from the judiciary, tax office and national defense to the civil service. Everyone knows that it causes great problems, but people have thus far acquiesced. Without eliminating such practices, however, we will not be able to move toward becoming a leading, advanced country.

On the path toward a fair society, even if some confusion might occur, we have to take bold action to uproot such corruptive practices. The general public sees the corruption of elected public officials and high-ranking government officials as most problematic. In this connection, the Government will rigorously revise the Public Service Ethics Act.

It is important to make up for the shortcomings in the system, but what is even more important is to change the overall social atmosphere, culture and values. There is no doubt that many public servants are leading exemplary lives after retirement. One of them is professor Kang Seong-tae who teaches at the University of Seoul.

He retired two years ago after serving in the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the National Tax Service for 31 years. After finishing his study at the Graduate School of Science in Taxation, he now teaches tapping into his ample experiences accumulated while working in government organizations. On top of this, he never stopped volunteering to take care of children in an orphanage. Now he is taking a volunteer training course with the aim of providing more professional volunteer services sometime in the future.

Professor Kang said that he had learned a lot from the remarks of a retired public official of the Internal Revenue Service in the United States while he was working overseas. The U.S. official said that he could earn money on the strength of his public career, but he would never do anything that went against his conscience. He emphasized that the expertise and experiences he gained while working as a public servant did not belong to him, and thus he felt he had to return them to the nation and society after retirement.

As the American public official noted, I, too, believe the careers and abilities of public servants are a sort of public property. I recently met a newly appointed mid-level official, Kim Ae-il. This is what she told me: “Many young people want to go into public service as they see that it is rewarding and worthwhile to contribute to society. And because, it is also possible to serve society with the acquired expertise even after retirement.”

Armed with such a spirit, a lot of young people go about their business in various walks. As I see these young workers equipped with such a high sense of ethics and devotion to public service, I have great hopes for the future of Korea.

I have had the privilege of being acquainted with former President Abdul Kalam of India who is a remarkable role model for public servants. When he retired from the presidency in 2007, he said, “When I entered the presidential palace five years ago, I came in with two bags of clothes, and now I leave with them.”

The Indian president commanded enormous respect among his people for his transparency and fortitude of character. He still travels around the world in service to his country, giving lectures and conducting people-to-people diplomacy.

My fellow Koreans,

Our country will be able to achieve US$30,000 or US$40,000 in per capita GNI in the not-too-distant future. But I worry that the high GNI would not mean much if it is not backed up by a fair society. It is my belief that a low-income, fair society would make people happier than a high-income, unfair society.

In light of this, we should resolutely eradicate corruption and irregularities even though it causes unbearable pain in all our joints. What is happening in our society makes me extremely indignant. But we must go through this pain in the interest of future generations. The recent incidents should serve as an occasion to recover our morals and ethics and establish a fair society. The Government will be in the forefront of this endeavor. I ask for deep understanding and cooperation in this regard.

Thank you very much.