Almost everyone who receives an announcement replies with a donation; not to do so is frowned upon. Kim has gone so far as to make these "solicitations" illegal. The social purpose of this decree is unclear, but the rule effectively underscores the thrust of Kim's mission: to root out corruption and appearance of corruption throughout Korean society.
The past several months have thus been extemely turbulent in South Korea. Largely unnoticed by the outside world, Korea--an increasingly important player on the world stage--has undergone a historic and often painful break with tradition. Critics of the new president complain that he is dismantling the system too quickly and with reckless abandon.
They fear that the economy, greased for so many years with the plentiful oil of naemul, will contract severely. For example, they point out that most Koreans' base salaries are artificially low, with the expectation that "gratitude fees" will make up the difference.
Indeed, Kim has at times seemed to get carried away by his reformist zeal, promoting legislation against more conventional practices such as intrafamily asset transfers, which are widespread in a country whose effective average tax rate nears 60 percent.
Kim's efforts must, however, be seen within the larger context of Korea's role on the world stage. As Kim has stated repeatedly, these institutional reforms, no matter how difficult they may be to implement or how antithetical to Korean culture they may be, are necessary to put his nation on the road to true modernization, and to win Korea a place among the most developed nations in the world.
Korea has been called a "little dragon" and the "next Japan," a country poised on the brink of economic superpower status. But this notion has blinded some observers to the fact that at many levels, Korea remains a backward country. For starters, the military controlled the presidency for 32 often brutal years from 1961 to 1993.
Moreover, much of Korea's population still labors in rice paddies on the hilly farmland, and uses relatively crude machinery and techniques.
In short, the Third World image of Korea, made famous by the television series "M*A*S*H," has not been completely vexed.
Korea will have to become a truly modern nation to overcome these stereotypes. And few nations in history have made much progress in the presence of widespread corruption.
The modernization struggles of Latin American and African countries can be traced to this root; internal corruption also contributed to the downfall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc.
President Kim is correctly attempting to eliminate an entrenched system of suspect ethical foundation so that internal corruption cannot impede Korea's progress.
His efforts could not come at a more propitious time. Korea is indeed taking a pivotal position on the world stage. Because North Korea's communist dictator Kim Il Sung nears death, one of the last communist holdouts could soon enter negotiations with its southern neighbor to reunify the country and drive yet another, perhaps the final, nail in the Cold War coffin.
Under Prime Minister Hosokawa, the new Japanese government is making long overdue apologies to Korea for Japan's cruel subjugation of the Korean people during the colonial period. As a result, the two countries seem on the verge of abandoning their historic distrust and working together to lead the continuing industrialization of East Asia.
If Korea hopes to capitalize on its potential role, it must clean up its economics and its politics. Kim Young Sam should be commended for his courage in the face of hostile opposition and numerous death threats.
Democracy and free enterprise, not surreptitious bribery, are the stuff of world powers. Envelopes full of money will not help Koreans to achieve that status.