Asia Times: Why Koreans get a kick out of Shin



	July 23, 1999	atimes.com

The Koreas

Why Koreans get a kick out of Shin

By Ahn Mi-Young

SEOUL - On the day that Kyonggi Governor Lim Chang-yuel was arrested on bribery charges, notorious thief and prisonescapee Shin Chang-won was also being hauled off to jail by thepolice.

Both are now behind bars, but Lim, who until February last yearwas part of the national government, has lost out to Shin in termsof media attention.

Lim, arrested last week for allegedly taking as much as 100million won ($83,000) in bribes, was a deputyminister for finance and economy in the Kim Young-samadministration.

It was also he who negotiated with the International MonetaryFund for a $58 billion package aimed at bailing out SouthKorea's crisis-hit economy, and who lobbied for banking andcorporate sector reforms.

But the downfall of this once-feted bureaucrat-turned-politician is apparentlyof less interest to the South Korean public than the fate of a murderer-thief who has been described by thelocal media as ''South Korea's Robin Hood''.

Even as Lim adamantly refuses to give up his post as governor ofa province, South Koreans would ratherhear about what will happen to Shin, who has been estimated to haverobbed his rich targets of up to 500 million won ($415,000)in cash and jewelry.

Two years ago, he escaped from prison where he was serving alife sentence for murder.

Some observers say the disparity in the public's interestregarding the two men lies partly in the fact that stories aboutbribe-taking politicians have become commonplace in this country.

Comments Kim June-ho, a professor at the Korea University here:''It is deplorable that our society is so used to politicianstaking bribes that people do not seem to mind stories like that ofthe Kyonggi governor."

But others worry that the public's ''misplaced''admiration for Shin is indicative of a new disturbing trend. Indeed, a recent editorial in the conservative Chosun Ilbonewspaper noted: ''A thief is a thief . . . There must be somethingwrong with some people who are trying to make a false hero of ShinChang-won, who is nothing more than a thief."

What is causing that ''wrong'', many observers say, is the factthat South Korea is fast becoming a ''20:80 country'',where 20 percent of the 45 million population are livingwell while 80 percent suffer in poverty. What's worse, they say, is the perception that those who arealready well-off are having an easier time making even more moneywhile those who are poor get poorer by the day.

This is apparently why tales of Shin picking on the rich havecaught the public's fancy. In many ways, Shin has done what manySouth Koreans wish they could do, say observers.

As Choong-Ang University professor Shin Kwang-Young points out:''The problem is that [the have-nots] may feel that society isunfair and thus may feel hostile against those who have."

The societal chasm can be discerned even in official figures.While economic growth of sevenpercent for the year is forecast and the local bourse has shot up, the number of people relying on state subsidiesis now at a record high of 1.74 million.

''Now the world seems to be running even better than it used tobefore the crisis,'' says a formerproject leader at a private research institute who has beenjobless for months and has divorced his wife, who could not beartheir fall in financial stature. ''That makes me feel even morelonely and betrayed."

A restaurant hand who has had to take on part-time work as adomestic helper to make ends meet also talks of feelings of furytoward those who seem to be doing much better than the rest. Sherecalls: ''I felt angry when I heard the wife in a house where Iworked say that she had earned several millions of won byinvesting in the local bourse."

Similar resentment may be building up among the ranks of studentsand workers who have to skip lunch in order to save money whilethe wealthy few are frequenting Seoul's fancy restaurants andnightclubs once more.

Parents who have to put their children in shelters while theylook for work are also not about to feel happy over reports thatgolf equipment sales are on an upswing and that there are morepeople snapping up big apartments and luxury cars.

Thus, observers say, it is no surprise that it is the slipperythief Shin who is getting the public's sympathy, instead of hisrich victims.

That public scorn has been heaped on those on the ''Shin list'' -the thief's written tally of the people he robbed and howmuch he got off them - instead ofon Shin himself has struck many as worrisome.

The comparative indifference toward Governor Lim's allegedwrongdoing is also raising concerns among many observers, who saythis may be signal growing cynicism toward authorities and thestate in general.

(Inter Press Service)

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