SEOUL, KOREA - The degree of trust to the government and the judiciary system in Korea was lowest among 32 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations. According to Hyundai Economic Research Institute on May 25 in a report "Korea's Social Capital Index," which compared the index of Korea with those of OECD countries, Korea's social capital index was 5.07, ranking 29th out of the 32 member countries. This is far below the OECD average of 5.80. 

 

The report defined 15 sub-indexes each for private and public social capital. The components are divided into six categories including private trust, private caring, private participation, public trust, public caring, and public participation. The highest point was set at 10 and the final index was calculated by taking an arithmetic mean value from scores of each component.

 

The top-ranking countries included Norway (6.66) and New Zealand (6.54). The only three countries that scored lower than Korea were Hungary, Estonia, and Greece. By each category, Korea's index was much lower than the OECD average figure in terms of both private and public spheres. Korea's score of 5.40 in private social capital and 4.75 in public social capital fell far short of the OECD average of 6.22 and 5.37, respectively.

 

Of particular note was the lack of trust in the government and the judiciary system in Korea. In the area of public trust, Korea was ranked 31st out of 32 member countries. As for private caring, including tolerance on sexual minorities, Korea was also one of the lowest. The score in the area of private trust was very low, largely because of a low level of trust toward relatives and friends.