ABSTRACT
This chapter explores several unique characteristics of corruption and trust in the context of the government of South Korea over time and empirically tests the relationship between corruption and trust in government with national-level data from various countries and country-level data from South Korea. Trust and corruption have significant implications for democratization, government performance, and development and are closely related to economic growth and democratization in both developed and developing countries. Overall, South Korea has been successful in improving transparency and controlling corruption since its transition to democracy in 1987. The Corruption Perceptions Index shows the level of corruption in South Korea compared with other developing and developed countries. Lack of evidence on the causal relationship between corruption and trust in government makes it unclear whether less corruption can generate more trust in government and whether increased trust in government can reduce corruption.
