Received 39 Million KRW National Subsidy, but '0 KRW' Recorded in the Ledger

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] #The North Korea aid organization 'Gyeore-ui Sup' received a subsidy of 39 million KRW for an international conference in December 2018 and used 34 million KRW of it, but this was omitted in the National Tax Service disclosure documents. In 2017, the subsidy project of 18.3 million KRW was not disclosed at all.

The office of Kim Ki-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, announced on the 6th that after analyzing the 'North Korea Aid Fund Usage Reports' submitted by about 60 North Korea civic groups to the Ministry of Unification, it was confirmed that major North Korea aid project organizations had omissions or non-disclosure in the National Tax Service disclosures.

‘Gyeore-ui Sup,’ where Kim Hong-gul, recently expelled from the Democratic Party of Korea, served as the standing representative, received a subsidy of 39 million KRW for an international conference in December 2018 and used 34 million KRW of it, but omitted this in the National Tax Service disclosure documents. The subsidy of 18.3 million KRW for the project in 2017 was not disclosed at all, and the details were also omitted in the 2019 disclosure. When pointed out by Kim’s office, 'Gyeore-ui Sup' belatedly corrected the omission, stating, "It was omitted because it was not professional accounting support."

In the case of the 'Tongil Yeonguwon' (Unification Research Institute), it did not provide an explanation for the total subsidy of 71.68 million KRW related to two tuberculosis support seminars held in 2015, only explaining that "Tongil Yeonguwon participated in an event hosted by Seoul National University." The Ministry of Unification also responded, "It was confirmed that Gyeore-ui Sup is not subject to mandatory disclosure, so there is no obligation to report settlement documents to the National Tax Service, but it was mistakenly submitted due to an error by the person in charge," adding, "This is a common issue that can occur during the subsidy reporting process at the tax office overseeing Gyeore-ui Sup."

Kim said, "Public taxes are being used indiscriminately under the name of humanitarian aid to North Korea," adding, "The omission of subsidy disclosures for civic groups, which was triggered by the 'Justice and Memory Solidarity' (Jeong-uiyeon) incident including lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang, is still widespread."

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