Park Administration Continues to Be Rocked By Bribery Scandal

It is going to be hard for President Park to launch an anti-corruption campaign in the wake of the Sewol ferry boat tragedy when the people around her that are supposed to implement it are all taking bribes if the allegations are true:

Sung, the chairman of Keangnam Enterprises, died in an apparent suicide after leaving the list.

Although President Park ordered the prosecution to conduct a thorough investigation into the graft scandal, Sunday, Cheong Wa Dae has refrained from commenting on the issue.

In a bid to fight corruption, she vowed again Thursday that anyone who is found to be involved in any illicit activities will face the consequences without exception.

Park’s biggest political hurdle would appear to be the besieged prime minister, because Lee is leading the government’s ambitious anti-corruption campaign.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun, which interviewed Sung hours before his death, reported Tuesday that the businessman said he had given Lee 30 million won ($27,000) during the 2013 by-elections, when Lee ran for a parliamentary seat representing Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province.

Park has set her sights on fighting graft as part of strengthening her control because the April 16, 2014 sinking of the ferry Sewol, which hit her administration hard, was blamed on collusive ties between ferry operators, regulators and politicians.

In addition, Park’s plans to reform the debt-heavy pension system for civil servants and the stiff labor market are also expected to hit a snag amid intensifying political attacks from opposition parties. The processing of economy-related bills pending before the National Assembly is also not on the cards in the short-term.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but I don’t understand why the Korean politicians don’t just legalize bribery and just call it campaign contributions like how the US political system works.