Left Flank

ROK pop culture has a strange proclivity for spreading western culture through unsavory figures. I'm sure most South Koreans know as much about as Roy Lichtenstein as I do, but he's all the rage in ROK, I hear.

But what has really roused public interest in South Korea is that Mr Kim claimed that the purchases were overseen by Hong Ra-hee, the wife of Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee and one of Korea's most prominent art patrons. Mr Kim also said the purchases appeared to have been made largely for the chairman's family's own enjoyment – the whistleblower claimed to have heard Mr Lee's son boast that «Happy Tears» hung in the family's home.

«People were astounded by the sheer value of the art works and the huge scale of [alleged] art purchases by the Lee family,» says Kim Sang-jo, economics professor at Hansung University.

The scandal has given new cachet to Lichtenstein's work in South Korea. «'Happy Tears' has become so famous socially that even people who are not so into art are showing interest in Lichtenstein's works,» says Shim Mi-sung, a director at Seoul Auction, which recently sold a Lichtenstein print titled «Crying Girl» for 60m won ($64,000, €44,000, £33,000). «His original works are so valuable that they have never been displayed by Korean museums.»

But just who owns «Happy Tears» and the other pieces remains a murky topic of society conversation.

After months of controversy over its whereabouts, «Happy Tears» was unveiled at Seoul's privately run Seomi Gallery last week. But Hong Seong-won, the gallery's director and the person accused of buying the art pieces for Samsung, has refused to reveal who the real owner is.

Samsung has denied that the slush funds even exist and the Lee family has also denied any wrongdoing.

The company has also claimed that if Ms Hong did buy the works, she did so with either family funds or those from a family cultural foundation.

It just keeps getting better after this, so keep reading. But, this is like former President Park Chung-hee's penchant for Chivas Regal brand scotch, and the way South Koreans ever since have equated culture and drunkenness with a funny-looking bottle of scotch. Decades from now Roy Lichtenstein will have a loyal fan base in ROK, all because of a corporate scandal.

Take these two quotes to understand the difference between the younger and the older generations in ROK:

"Most people believed or suspected this sort of thing was always going on and took it for granted," says Lee Ji-soo of the Center for Good Corporate Governance in Seoul. "The difference this time is that someone has come forward to speak out against it, and there are more people prepared to say that this is not acceptable.

"There is a generational divide in Korea," Lee says. "And the younger generation is saying that Korea can't move forward unless we overcome that old way of thinking to become a more transparent society."

(...)

The whistleblower himself has sought sanctuary. Mr Kim is housed and fed by the CPAJ. Meanwhile a whispering campaign against him is making its way around Seoul. Father Kim In-kook of the CPAJ defends him: «He spent a lot of time thinking what he should do; and he has concluded that uncovering these actions by Samsung will benefit society.» But Father Kim declined to meet The Economist, saying his group had made a collective decision not to talk to foreign reporters about the Samsung allegations. «We don't want to air Korea's dirty laundry to the world,» he said. They have that, at least, in common with Samsung.

And, if either article can't satisfy the urge to see dirt, here's another scandal brewing.

What might the presidential candidates do about the corrupt business sector itself? Not much, but not surprising for the older guys. One wants to coddle the indebted; another college grads. And, Lee Hoi-chang wants tax breaks for small businesses. How a corrupt culture could exist in ROK barely needs explaining.

"Competition for survival has become ruthless and morality disregarded," says Kim Mun-cho, a Korea University sociologist. "In the competition to be ahead of others, people resort to any means available, resulting in corruption."

Some blame the tendency to shave corners on a cutthroat mentality that developed in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which shook Koreans' faith in an ever-expanding economy. Others contend that South Korea has never shaken off the mutual back-scratching culture of a small society, where the establishment has tight personal connections forged by blood, school or regional ties.

And some suggest that Korean society simply has an unhealthy obsession with success. "Living an ordinary life is not regarded as being successful, and staying still economically is seen as an unbearable retrogression," Kim says. "Korean society demands overachievement."

They forgot those cute white envelopes stuffed full of cash children receive on New Year's. And, William Pesek stumbles over another solution, but doesn't take a good point about legal rights for whistleblowers (via TMH) far enough. ROK needs to evolve from a republic by laws into a republic of laws.

(Actually, was antebellum America any less eager to cut corners?)