Half of the Committees under the Prime Minister's Office Are 'Ghost Committees'... Budget Wasted Excessively

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Kwang-ho] It has been confirmed that half of the committees under the Prime Minister's Office are ghost committees that hold meetings once a year or less.

According to data submitted by the Prime Minister's Office to Hong Seong-guk, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, there are currently 16 committees under the Prime Minister's Office. Among them, 11 committees were allocated a total of 14.725 billion won over the past three years.

However, among these committees, the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Support Committee, Overseas Korean Policy Committee, and the 4·16 Sewol Ferry Disaster Victims Support and Memorial Committee did not hold a single face-to-face meeting. The Saemangeum Committee, Sejong Special Self-Governing City Committee, and Food Safety Policy Committee held only one or two face-to-face meetings.

In particular, the International Development Cooperation Committee, which received the largest budget over the past three years, held only three face-to-face meetings and two written meetings during that period.

It was also pointed out that ex officio members excessively include ministers and vice ministers from various ministries. Nine committees have the Prime Minister as the chairperson, and since ministers and vice ministers are ex officio members of most committees, there are cases where they are unaware that they are members of the respective committees.

Representative Hong said, "The controversy over ghost committees is not a new issue," and added, "Since they are operated with the people's tax money, it is necessary to adjust committees with overlapping functions or low performance."

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