[Delayed Budget Settlement②] 'Is It Okay to Spend National Funds Like This?'... Parliamentary Correction Requests Ignored

2020 Fiscal Year Correction Requests Total 1,881
Among Them, 128 Cases Repeatedly Raised

Legislation Proposed to Mandate Budget Reflection... System Needed to Prevent Evasive Tactics Avoiding Correction Requests

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] "The Ministry of Health and Welfare allocates budgets to local governments for expanding daycare centers, but the actual execution is low. Improve the execution rate and prepare measures to improve the system."

The National Assembly's Welfare Committee has pointed out through corrective demands at each settlement audit over the past three years that the budget for the 'daycare center expansion project' is not being properly executed. In fact, the related project budget, which is allocated about 60 to 70 billion KRW annually to expand daycare centers, had an execution rate of only 30.9% in the 2018 fiscal year, 39% in 2019, and 44.5% in 2020. Because of this, the National Assembly has repeatedly urged the Ministry of Health and Welfare for three consecutive years to clearly identify the demand from local governments, determine the necessary budget, and request the budget accordingly, stating that "the National Assembly's budget review and approval authority is being undermined." The Ministry responded that it had "completed measures" by presenting countermeasures such as "strengthening monitoring" and "publishing project manuals," but the corrective demands from the National Assembly are repeated, and the reality is hardly improving.

According to the National Assembly Budget Office on the 25th, the National Assembly delivers more than 1,000 corrective demands to the government every year during settlement audits related to government budget execution. These include various measures ranging from disciplinary actions against those responsible to corrections, cautions, and system improvements. The problem is that these demands from the National Assembly are not being properly implemented.

The Budget Office analyzed that among 1,881 corrective demands in the 2020 settlement, 240 were repeatedly pointed out. Among these, 52 were the same issues raised for three consecutive years. A Budget Office official said, "Repeated corrective demands mainly occur because the government's corrective actions were not implemented in a timely manner or the content of the measures was insufficient, so the causes of the corrective demands were not resolved," adding, "It is necessary for the government to faithfully implement corrective action requests and, if the content of repeated corrective action requests is insufficient, to prepare measures that can urge implementation, such as reflecting them in budget reviews."

In this regard, a method to improve the system by reflecting the implementation of corrective actions in the budget has also been proposed. Yang Kyung-sook, a Democratic Party lawmaker, proposed an amendment to the National Finance Act to make it mandatory to reflect corrective demands in the next year's budget during settlement audits. Bae Jun-young, a People Power Party lawmaker, submitted a National Assembly Act that allows budget adjustments if corrective demands are not addressed or are insufficient and requires the minister in charge to appear before the National Assembly to explain. However, these bills were submitted to the relevant standing committees but have not yet entered actual deliberation.

Moreover, the government reports the status of corrective actions on settlement audit issues every year by the end of May, but there is a problem that many are reported as "in progress" and left at that. Among the corrective demands for the 2020 fiscal year settlement, 18.4% (347 cases) fall into this category. It is currently difficult to verify whether these cases have been subsequently implemented because there is no institutional mechanism in place for the National Assembly to check. In this regard, Yoon Young-duk of the Democratic Party proposed an amendment to the National Assembly Act to require reporting to the National Assembly every six months until corrective actions on settlement demands are completed.

Although the government claims to have taken measures, there are calls for National Assembly-level inspections to verify whether they have been effectively implemented. In the past, the Budget Office suggested a "strengthening plan for National Assembly settlement audits," proposing to use past standing committees or the Board of Audit and Inspection for re-verification. This would involve the relevant standing committee placing the corrective action report on the agenda, having professional staff review and re-examine its appropriateness, or allowing the Board of Audit and Inspection to audit follow-up reports on corrective demands.

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