Unfortunately those of us familiar with Korea should not find anything below surprising. For me, the major take-away is this poll documents the ingrained skepticism towards authority held by most South Koreans, regardless of age. Most Koreans do not actually expect to be well treated by authorities in almost any environment unless they have some kind of counterbalancing or superior political muscle.
The idea of a “win-win” is generally viewed more as some kind of western ideal than a practical expectation. Some of this may be attributed to traditional, authoritarian power structures found in the home, in the schools, in the workplace and by government. Much of this changing to be sure. But fundamentally, often there is a cynical application of power leaving the affected more anticipatory of the worse than expecting the better of possible outcomes. Slowly, this may change – but the key operative word is “slowly.”
Youths reluctant to report corruption: poll
Yonhap
GlobalPost
June 26, 2013