[2021 National Audit] Political Strife Instead of Audit?…Science and ICT Committee, Election Candidate Allegations Dispute (Comprehensive)

National Assembly audit. Photo archive.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] On the 18th, during the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee’s audit of institutions under the Ministry of Science and ICT, allegations surrounding major presidential candidates from both ruling and opposition parties became a key issue.

The opposition party, People Power Party, raised suspicions regarding the sale and relocation of the Seongnam Baekhyeon-dong site of the Korea Food Research Institute. At the audit, Rep. Kim Young-sik of the People Power Party questioned the special favor allegations related to the change of land use by Seongnam City concerning the Baekhyeon-dong Food Research Institute site sale and relocation, which had been recently reported by some media outlets.

The Food Research Institute sold the Baekhyeon-dong site to a private company for 218.7 billion KRW in 2015, following the government’s public institution relocation policy, and moved to Jeonbuk. However, most of the site was natural green space, and seven months after the purchase, the land use was upgraded by four levels to semi-residential on the condition of building rental housing, and later it even received approval for general sale apartments. The construction company that bought the site reportedly earned over 300 billion KRW in profit. Some media and Rep. Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, have raised suspicions of a “second Daejang-dong” scandal, alleging that Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate who was then mayor of Seongnam, was involved and granted special favors.

Rep. Kim summoned Baek Hyung-hee, director of the Food Research Institute, to testify and questioned the circumstances under which the institute sent 24 official letters requesting a change to general sale to Seongnam City, and why the employees involved later faced disciplinary actions such as dismissal requested by the Board of Audit and Inspection.

Rep. Kim said, “The 2019 report on the sale issue and the recent explanatory materials submitted after the controversy in the media differ in content. Isn’t there an intention to hide something?” He added, “Looking at past materials, it is enough to raise controversy over special favors. The land received under the condition of donation has not been properly utilized. Why did they send 24 official letters to Seongnam City asking to change rental housing to general sale?” Regarding the employees’ severe disciplinary actions, he said, “This means there was administrative misconduct. If there were no special favors, there would be no severe disciplinary actions. Isn’t the Baekhyeon-dong case a carbon copy of the Daejang-dong incident? It was at the request of Seongnam City,” he claimed.

However, Director Baek flatly denied, saying, “There was no such request from Seongnam City.” He explained, “We sent official letters only because there was an obligation to cooperate (with the land use change) according to the contract, and the disciplinary actions against employees were due to violations of the code of conduct. At that time, the site had failed to sell eight times, so we were under great pressure, but we succeeded in selling and relocating the site through our own efforts without external influence,” he rebutted.

The ruling party raised suspicions regarding the doctoral dissertation of Kim Geon-hee, wife of opposition candidate Yoon Seok-ryul.

Rep. Yoon Young-chan of the Democratic Party summoned Lee Kwang-bok, chairman of the Korea Research Foundation, which oversees university research ethics, and pointed out, “Kookmin University claims it cannot verify Kim’s dissertation suspected of plagiarism due to an addendum. Kookmin University is missing from the list of universities reported by the foundation as having a verification period for research ethics.” He urged, “The Research Foundation should impose sanctions such as restricting participation in research projects or evaluating research funding support on institutions that try to circumvent the abolition of the verification period by the Ministry of Education through addenda or transitional regulations.”

In response, Chairman Lee said, “There are legal limitations to the foundation’s role, but we will actively cooperate with the Ministry of Education to make improvements.”

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