Industrial Research Institute's Budget Waste Audit on China Dispatch Ends in Just Over a Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been confirmed that the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) concluded a public audit within about a month regarding the Industrial Research Institute, a government-funded research organization, wasting budget on a dispatched staff member in Beijing, China.

According to the BAI and the Industrial Research Institute on the 24th, the BAI concluded the public audit requested by the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice last month on the 13th. The Industrial Research Institute allocated a budget of 330 million KRW this year for one staff member dispatched to Beijing. The 'other expenditure details,' whose usage was unclear, amounted to 90 million KRW.

The BAI judged that there was no problem under existing regulations and guidelines and concluded the audit on the 13th of last month. A BAI official stated, "From 2013 to last year, the Beijing support budget was organized as research project expenses, which included personnel expenses and rental fees, thus complying with the 'Detailed Guidelines for Budgeting of the Economic and Humanities Social Research Council.' The Industrial Research Institute has organized overseas work allowances as personnel expenses and rental fees as operating expenses from this year following the National Assembly's remarks, so the audit was closed."

Regarding criticism that the dispatched staff's research performance was poor, the BAI said, "Since the dispatched staff established networks with institutions within China, it is difficult to see any operational problems." It is known that most of those dispatched by the Industrial Research Institute as Beijing support heads are not experts in Korea-China trade or Chinese industry.

For these reasons, the BAI has been criticized for not properly scrutinizing whether it was appropriate for the Industrial Research Institute to establish Beijing support using the budget, whether the allocated budget was used for its intended purpose, and whether the budget was excessively large compared to other projects.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.