By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

About a half of South Koreans think there has been little improvement in the level of corruption in our society since Roh Moo-hyun took office, a survey conducted by The Korea Times-Hankook Ilbo shows.

According to a poll on the ``citizen’s conception of integrity and corruption of our society,’’ 48.7 percent of respondents said there is no difference in the level of corruption between Roh’s government and previous governments.

Six out of every 10 respondents said the country’s level of integrity is low.

The respondents gave an average of 3.4 points out of the full 10 points on the integrity level of our society. And 60.6 percent said the country’s integrity level is low.

The poll, conducted on 600 adults aged 20 or above, was designed to estimate how citizens think about corruption in Korea society and coincides an increasing number of conflicts regarding the ongoing investigations into corruption scandals of former presidential aides and campaign funding scandals during last year’s presidential race.

The survey showed 86.5 percent said political circles are the most corrupted segment of society, while 64 percent said the biggest source of corruption is the political system.

Also, 26 percent said they would not report instances of corruption because it would not be effective (44.2 percent), they could receive improper retaliation (23.7 percent) and it is too complicated and troublesome (15.4 percent).

jj@koreatimes.co.kr