"Points Earned from Using Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund Credited to Employee Personal Cards"

Assemblyman Kim Ki-hyun "Inappropriate Accumulation... Ministry of Unification Must Review Fund Execution Status"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] It has been revealed that points accrued during the execution of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund were accumulated on the personal cards of employees who used the fund.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Unification to Kim Gi-hyeon, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee from the People Power Party, three organizations that received support from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund between 2018 and 2019?the Korea Sports Council, Korea Rail Network Authority, and Mac Communication?used the fund via corporate cards but accumulated points on employees' personal cards.

The Korea Sports Council accumulated 5,632 points under the name of an individual employee for expenditures totaling 1,073,630 KRW from July 29 to August 21, 2018.

The Korea Rail Network Authority also accumulated 7,158 points under the name of the responsible employee for card usage amounting to 7,162,190 KRW.

In the case of Mac Communication, 16,543 points were improperly accumulated for card usage totaling 927,500 KRW from March 29 to April 4, 2019.

According to the current guidelines for budget and fund operation execution issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, points generated during budget execution processes such as public utility payments and fuel expenses must be used for the relevant expenses to reduce the budget.

Assemblyman Kim stated, "The Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, which is prepared with the people's tax money, is being improperly accumulated in violation of regulations during the execution process," and added, "The Ministry of Unification must thoroughly and meticulously review the fund's execution status to ensure that such incidents do not recur."

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