Saturday, April 14, 2007

Lying Korean witness

Tribalism and lying witnesses

Beyond language difficulties is the prospect that South Koreans who give testimony might feel it culturally acceptable to lie, especially if it will increase their chances of winning bigger damages, Carr said.

“This culture,” Carr said, “does not place the same value on truth or view the truth through the same prism that Americans do. There is very little social disapproval of making false official statements in order to achieve an objective for your friend or relative or for a tribemate.

“Once it breaks down to ‘those Americans’ versus ‘us Koreans,’ many, many Koreans will perceive it as their duty to make sure that the Korean is the winner of the dispute. So there’s a lot of lying when witnesses come forward,” Carr said.

“Some people,” said Seoul attorney Jin Hyo-guen, “think that it’s their duty or their job to testify in a way the GI should be punished, severely” and beyond what’s warranted by what “actually happened.”

“Of course, there are some persons who think … favorably and amicably” toward U.S. servicemembers, Jin said. “But sometimes not.” Jin has represented numerous U.S. servicemembers in South Korean courts.Stars and Stripes/Pacific edition, Sunday, April 15, 2007

I didn't say it , an American did.

See also links on this post. The former Korean president called Korea a country of liar.
I didn't say it, Korean nobel prize winner did.

via lost nomad
I repeat, one of the most common things my Korean adult students would say in answer to a general question about, “What common problems does South Korean society have” was the simple - “Koreans lie too much…”

No comments: