A corrupt society

            Once upon a time in Greece, a philosopher named, Diogenes, became famous for walking the streets with a lighted lamp in the daytime looking for “an honest man.” He believed that the ancient Greek society of his time (about 412-323 BC) was full of corrupt and dishonest people that it was almost impossible to find an honest person.

Today, some 2,300 years later, South Korea’s new President, Park Geun-hye, could use the help of Diogenes, as she has been struggling to find honest men and women to fill the high posts of her administration.

More than a month after she became the nation’s chief executive, President Park saw six of her nominees for her cabinet posts resign, some even before facing the Congressional scrutiny, because of their past records that were tainted by financial irregularities, unscrupulous, if not illegal, accumulations of personal wealth, or other unethical conducts.

Meanwhile, opposition political parties and the news media were busy criticizing the President, day in and day out, for her “inability” to find well qualified officials for government positions. But they forget that the country is full of corrupt and sleazy people so that President Park, like Diogenes, is having a hard time finding “smart and able” persons who are also “clean and honest.”