Posts misrepresent American politics professor's remarks on corruption in South Korea

“The type of corruption in South Korea is very interesting, and that is a type called 'elite cartels'. Well-educated individuals come together in an organised manner to prey on the people," read a Korean-language post shared on X on February 29, 2024. 

The post attributed the comments to Michael Johnston, professor emeritus of political science at Colgate University in the United States (archived link).

It also shared a screenshot of his interview with the national broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), where the caption in Korean read: "Korea is, to me, one of the most interesting cases, and that is a category I call 'elite cartels'."

Johnston was interviewed for a KBS documentary titled "The League of Their Own: Corrupt Network", aired on May 23, 2014 and later published on the channel's verified YouTube account (archived links here and here).

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Screenshot of the X post, taken on April 22, 2024

Speaking in English, Johnston referred to the "elite cartels" in South Korea at the documentary's 14-minute 44-second mark.

At the 15-minute 16-second mark he then said: "In Korea, the bureaucracy, the political life, the Blue House, the military, regional ties, university ties, and loyalties... bringing elites together or giving them a basis on which to stay together... and often what keeps them together is the chance to maintain access to corrupt gains."

He subsequently elaborated on what he meant by elite cartels -- but clarified that he was not exclusively talking about South Korea.

"Elite cartels -- and I'm speaking about the syndrome in general, not necessarily of Korea -- elite cartels often thrived on (you know) big deals made behind the scenes out of the public eye  -- not necessarily involving politics," he said. "Some of the money in the elite cartel flowed to politicians and bureaucrats, but some of it flowed to people in the military and in business, and so forth, and a lot of that would be very much untouched."

However, the alleged quote "Well-educated individuals come together in an organised manner to prey on the people" was not stated in the documentary. 

Misrepresented comments

The posts that misrepresented Johnston's comments were also shared here and here on Facebook; and have circulated on the South Korean online forum Clien since 2018. 

Some South Korean journalists and critics have also inaccurately quoted Johnston in articles they've contributed to newspapers.

Johnston denied making such comments in an email to  AFP on April 21, saying: "As I read the claimed quotation, my reaction is to agree with the first part ("elite cartels") but not the second -- it's not an argument I would have knowingly made." 

According to him, the elite cartels in South Korea are far more diverse than "well-educated individuals" and what gives them political and economic leverage is more than just education.

"It's more a matter of how their various power bases enable them to collude in such a way as to reinforce each other's influence and to enable them to take and protect corrupt gains," he said.

He explained that while the political power of the cartels comes at the expense of other people and groups, it would be a "major oversimplification" to say they get together to exploit others.