"Musin bul-lip" — without trust, nothing stands.
South Korea's system of local self-governance, revived in 1995, marks its 31st year this year. The 9th elected term of local government has now completed its first month.
The June 3 local elections showed how far civic consciousness has matured. Voters sent an unmistakable message: any party or candidate seen as working against the public interest would be punished at the ballot box.
That civic maturity is a force that can carry South Korea's local democracy to the next level.
One month into the 9th elected term, the single most important virtue Seoul's mayor and the 25 district mayors must take to heart is precisely this: without trust, nothing stands.
Even the head of a household struggles to lead when family members have lost faith. In the far more complex world of public administration, where countless competing interests intersect, that truth holds all the more.
No matter how sound their policies, Seoul's mayor and district mayors will find them nearly impossible to advance without the trust of civil servants and the residents they serve.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government oversees wide-area administration that touches virtually every aspect of residents' lives. Individual districts handle the day-to-day services closest to residents — welfare, sanitation, roads, construction, and parks and green spaces.
District mayors, in particular, bear administrative responsibility from the position closest to the people. That proximity demands all the more care in word and deed.
It is for this reason that first-term district mayors elected in June have moved quickly to open lines of communication with their staff. A district mayor who cannot win the trust of those inside the office will find it no easier to win the trust and respect of residents outside it.
Each district employs between 1,000 and 2,000 civil servants who watch their mayor's every word and action. From a single remark, a personnel decision, or a work directive, staff form their judgment of how the organization is run and what kind of leader stands at its head.
Silence should never be mistaken for consent or confidence. Employees rarely voice dissent openly before a mayor who holds the power of appointment — but when unfair or unreasonable treatment recurs, internal grievances will ultimately surface.
As local governance has accumulated history, civil servants' awareness of their rights and their political consciousness have grown considerably. District mayors must stop seeing staff as mere recipients of instructions and start treating them as partners who share responsibility for running the district.
If leaders keep personnel decisions, budget allocations, and policy choices free of unnecessary allegations — and dedicate themselves solely to local development and improving residents' lives — staff will willingly lend their full effort.
When district mayors and their staff move in the same direction, bound by mutual trust, communities stabilize and the quality of governance rises.
Rapid shifts in the judicial system and the political environment have lately deepened confusion across society and heightened public anxiety.
In times like these, local governments — the level of administration most directly connected to daily life — must hold steady. Trust is built not through grand slogans but through keeping promises, making fair personnel decisions, and listening to voices from the ground.
District residents are city residents, and city residents are citizens of the nation.
Clean water at the source keeps the stream clean downstream. The mayor and district mayors of the 9th elected term are urged to put responsibility before authority and to demonstrate trustworthiness through action rather than words.
Ultimately, the success of the 9th elected term will depend on how seriously its leaders take the lesson of "musin bul-lip" — without trust, nothing stands.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
