Jeon Nam-do Councilor Lee Kwang-il Raises Allegations of Collusion and Favoritism Between Jangseong-gun Village Broadcasting and a Specific Company

Lee Gwang-il, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Jangseong County has spent more than three times the installation cost supported by Jeonnam Province for installing village broadcasting, raising suspicions of favoritism in the contractor selection process.

On the 20th, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly member Lee Gwang-il revealed at the 347th extraordinary session plenary meeting through questions on provincial administration and educational administration that the village broadcasting installation project, supported by the "Jeollanam-do Nuclear Power Plant Regional Project Facility Special Account," has issues due to an exclusive contract with the supplier.

Through his inquiry, Assemblyman Lee pointed out, "There are 21 companies nationwide certified by the Korea Federation of SMEs to produce village wireless broadcasting devices, but the model installed by Jangseong County was changed from village wireless broadcasting to a smart disaster relief system, and only one company nationwide is registered for this. The contract was monopolized and supplied through a negotiated contract with the Public Procurement Service."

According to data analyzed by Assemblyman Lee, Jangseong County promoted the project in 25 villages with 1,320 households by supporting 1.55 billion KRW from the 2019 provincial and county budget, spending 62 million KRW per village.

However, the budget supported by Jeonnam Province for village wireless broadcasting facilities was one-third of Jangseong County’s price, at 22.8 million KRW per village, for the same 25 villages and 1,320 households, to build the system, he added.

Regarding this, the Director of the Jeonnam Provincial Citizen Safety Office responded that the price difference is due to Jeonnam Province building a one-way server system, while Jangseong County’s system is two-way.

In response, Assemblyman Lee cited a Jangseong Fire Station official, stating that although the contractor submitted a proposal to install a two-way system to Jangseong County, the installation was agreed upon with the Jangseong Fire Station 119 Center, but the system stopped working due to malfunction after installation.

Additionally, Assemblyman Lee confirmed with villages where the system was reportedly built based on residents’ complaints, but found no server system established, repeatedly raising suspicions of a 1 billion KRW budget waste.

Assemblyman Lee emphasized, "Considering the very high satisfaction of elderly residents in rural fishing and farming areas, which are rapidly aging, regarding village wireless broadcasting projects, Jeonnam Province should actively expand village wireless broadcasting facilities to island and rural areas through open competitive bidding rather than favoritism toward specific companies, using a more affordable budget."

He particularly stated, "If Jeonnam Province’s budget is being wasted beyond common sense, I will faithfully fulfill the role of the provincial assembly to ensure that the citizens’ taxes are properly spent," and urged, "I hope the village wireless broadcasting system will be expanded promptly so that elderly people with hearing loss can receive clear audio indoors and quickly be informed of disaster situations."

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