Seoul City Audit Committee Inspects Operation Status of 12 'Cheongnyeon Hwalryeok Gonggan' Spaces... 21 Measures Notified

Audit Committee "Ignoring Established Procedures, Repeated Participation of Specific Organization Personnel in Selection Process"
Unauthorized Subcontracting of Entrusted Tasks and Allocation of Personnel Expenses from Project Funds... Confirmed Case of 700 Million KRW Paid to Specific Individuals Prohibited from Entrustment

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government Audit Committee announced on the 14th that it notified the relevant departments on the 10th of 21 corrective actions following an operational inspection of 12 locations, including the ‘Youth Vitality Spaces’ operated by Seoul?Youth Activity Support Center, Youth Cheong, three Youth Centers, and six Mujungryeokjidae (Zero Gravity Zones).

The Seoul Metropolitan Government Audit Committee conducted the inspection in response to media and other concerns regarding the ‘Youth Vitality Spaces,’ which are operated to support various social activities of youth. The inspection covered the appropriateness of private consignment, usage status of each space, program operation status, and potential budget waste.

The inspection revealed several issues, including ▲selection of consignment agencies ignoring private consignment procedures ▲unauthorized re-consignment of entrusted tasks and allocation of personnel expenses from project funds ▲budget waste due to improper execution of service fees and personnel expenses ▲conflicts of interest with fixed-term public officials from private organizations handling related agency tasks ▲and program operations that did not consider youth needs.

First, many cases were found where the prescribed procedures for selecting private consignment agencies were ignored or specific individuals repeatedly participated in the selection process, violating private consignment regulations. For example, Agency A allocated a private consignment budget of 1 billion KRW without prior approval from the city council and selected the consignment agency by improperly evaluating with scores lower than the pre-announced evaluation criteria.

Additionally, reviewing the evaluation process of private consignment proposals in the youth department over the past five years revealed inappropriate appointment of evaluation committee members. Essential preliminary lists were not prepared, or preliminary evaluators were not designated. As a result, personnel related to specific organizations such as ‘Youth Hub’ participated multiple times in selecting consignment agencies.

Violations of private consignment regulations and agreements were also confirmed, such as unauthorized re-consignment of entrusted tasks and allocation of personnel expenses from project funds. One agency re-consigned 68% of the total project funds and paid over 700 million KRW in the form of delegated tasks to a specific individual who was not allowed to be entrusted. There was also a case where personnel expenses accounted for 70% of the project funds. Agency B re-consigned 399 cases worth 4.2 billion KRW to third parties such as companies over the past four years. Notably, 7.3 billion KRW (232 cases) was paid in the form of delegated tasks, not contracts, to 159 specific individuals over two years (2018?2019).

There were also many cases of violating local contract laws that caused budget waste due to improper execution of service fees and personnel expenses. Agency D calculated service fees as academic service fees and paid activity fees accordingly, even though the service was not academic. They paid 600,000 KRW per month (35 cases) to counselors despite no counseling records. Furthermore, over the past three years (2018?2020), they paid 1.3 billion KRW in advance to contractors for 58 contracts without securing bonds and failed to impose delay penalties on eight delayed contracts, violating local contract laws.

Over the past six years (2015?2021), half (19 out of 38) of the fixed-term public officials hired in the Seoul youth department were from specific organizations such as Youth Hub. Having employees from private organizations supervise related agencies can cause conflicts of interest, which led to management failures. For example, in 2015, during the selection of tenant organizations for ‘Youth Cheong,’ three organizations that did not even submit applications were selected without evaluation, indicating improper space management.

The efficiency of operating the Youth Vitality Spaces was also found to be low. Despite a continuous decrease in users due to COVID-19 and very low awareness (space recognition rate of 35.8%), programs unrelated to youth needs such as employment were mainly operated. Agency E held a ‘Zero Gravity Year-end Party’ program online for two hours and used private consignment funds to provide membership members with wine, cheese platters, and wall trees.

Jung Deok-young, Seoul City Safety Audit Officer, said, "We inspected the operational status of the Youth Vitality Spaces, which had previously been criticized, and announced the inspection results in the interest of citizens’ right to know. We notified the relevant departments to ensure corrective actions are taken and will disclose the final inspection results in December after a one-month re-examination period."

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