In 1989, almost two-thirds (63%) of the bureaucrats in Korea's Ministry of Finance and almost half (47%) of Economic Planning Board (EPB) civil servants over the level of samugwan (Grade III) had graduated from Seoul National University (SNU). Normally these statistics are used as evidence of the superior quality of the SNU students. What tends to be less well known, however, is that faculty members at SNU's Graduate School of Public Administration are often asked to help write the national civil service exam (haengchòng kosi, or haengsi). Although this circumstance does not diminish the accomplishment of those who pass the exam and enter the civil service, it does provide a clue that not all is as it appears within the vaunted Korean bureaucracy.

We begin our exploration of money politics by focusing on bureaucracy. The developmental statist explanation for growth centers on the hypothesis that in successful countries bureaucracies are more efficient than they are in less successful countries.