More than seven out of 10 South Koreans are dissatisfied with the way politics is played out in their country, a poll showed Monday.
The survey on 7,500 South Koreans aged between 19 and 70 showed that 72 percent of the respondents considered local politics to be “unfair,” nearly unchanged from 2013. Only 28 percent, meanwhile, said it was “fair.”
The poll, taken by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, also showed that nearly 72 percent thought the power dynamic between large conglomerates and small and mid-sized companies in the country was unfair, while some 61 percent considered employment opportunities to be distributed unequally.
But more than half, or 63.4 percent, said educational opportunities were equally given.
In terms of fairness, South Korea was given an overall score of 2.3 on a scale of 1 to 4, down 3 basis points from 2013.
Kim Seok-ho, a sociology professor at Seoul National University, said the downgrade was statistically significant.
“The survey shows that the more educated and younger you are, the more you think our society is unfair,” he said.
In fact, younger generations born between 1979 and 1994 were most unhappy with local politics, followed by those born during the pro-democracy movement between 1964 and 1978. Baby boomers born between 1955 and 1963, and those born before 1954 were next.
By education, those whose highest level of education was middle school or below gave the highest fairness score of 2.34 points, while those who received college education or higher gave the lowest score of 2.27 points, according to the poll. (Yonhap)
