After the Appointment of Pro-Administration Parachute Personnel... Budget-Increased Civic Groups and Public Institutions

Yoon Mi-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and former member of Justice and Truth. On the 6th, the People Power Party pointed out that "investigations into Justice and Truth's subsidies and prompt recovery measures for illegally diverted national subsidies must be implemented quickly."
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Policy Committee of the People Power Party announced on the 6th that, ahead of the 21st National Assembly audit, it analyzed the details of government subsidies paid to civic groups and public institutions by each ministry from 2016 to this year and confirmed numerous cases of financial pressure and support through government subsidy budgets.

First, several cases were found where budgets were newly established or increased after parachute appointments to civic groups and public institutions. For example, in the case of the International Broadcasting Exchange Foundation (Arirang TV), the budget increased after Lee Seung-yeol, a former media spokesperson for Moon Jae-in's presidential campaign, was appointed as chairman. In response, Arirang TV explained, "Although the budget increased from 0 won in 2017 to 11.1 billion won in 2020, it is unrelated to the chairman's appointment," adding, "It was to replace outdated equipment and facilities after 24 years since establishment."

The Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, whose chairman Kim Yong-rak declared support from Daegu-Gyeongbuk cultural artists in the 2017 presidential election, saw total support funds increase nearly fourfold from 3.8 billion won in 2017 to 17 billion won in 2020.

There were also cases showing an intention to turn civic groups into government-affiliated organizations through the provision or reduction of support funds. For instance, the Korea Energy Agency newly provided support funds for renewable energy private group cooperation projects, spending 500 million won annually from 2019 to 2020 to support 11 groups over two years.

Among the recipients of subsidies for the Human Rights Organizations Joint Cooperation Project provided by the Human Rights Commission, four groups received support for three consecutive years under the Moon administration. Among them, the Institute of Human Rights and Medicine is led by Chairman Ham Se-woong, who has a pro-government stance, and the Human Rights Center of the National Council of Churches in Korea awarded human rights prizes to Director Lim Tae-hoon and Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun.

The People Power Party also confirmed that the Moon administration executed government subsidies based on political bias. The support fund for the Rhee Syngman Founding President Memorial Project by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs decreased from 10 million won in 2017 and 2018 to 9.6 million won in 2019 and 6 million won in 2020. In contrast, the support fund for the 'Unam Kim Seong-suk Memorial Project Association,' which was found to have illegally diverted government subsidies for unauthorized events, increased fiftyfold from 4 million won in 2019 to 200 million won in 2020.

The Policy Committee stated, "The Moon Jae-in administration should not only verbally call for fairness and neutrality of civic groups but also reflect on its own behavior that is eroding the values of civil society and prepare alternatives for the opaque government subsidy review process that has caused many problems." They added, "Furthermore, swift implementation of investigations into the Justice and Memory Foundation subsidies and recovery measures for illegally diverted government subsidies is necessary."

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