[2022 National Audit] "Developed Blue House Reservation System but Did Not Use It"

Repeated Private Contracts... Wasting 20 Million Won Trying to Reduce Certification Fees
Red Carpet Damaged Due to Overopening Without Considering Capacity

On the 11th, citizens visiting Cheongwadae in Jongno-gu, Seoul, are touring the presidential residence. The Cheongwadae opening event runs until the 22nd, allowing only online lottery winners to visit six times daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with 6,500 people per session, totaling 39,000 visitors each day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

There have been criticisms that public funds were wasted during the utilization process of Cheongwadae.

According to materials disclosed on the 11th by Jeon Jae-su, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation signed an urgent private contract with Company A at the end of May to establish a reservation management system for Cheongwadae tours. The reservation management system, launched in early June, incurred a monthly fee of 13.5 million KRW just for the mobile phone authentication method.

The foundation changed the contract with the private contractor. They spent an additional 20 million KRW to develop a new authentication system with lower usage fees. However, this system has not been used due to concerns that changing the authentication method might confuse the reserving visitors.

At the Cultural Heritage Administration's audit on the same day, Assemblyman Jeon pointed out, "The initial purpose of developing an additional system has become meaningless," and criticized, "Tax money was wasted due to imprudent budget execution."

Unnecessary budget spending also occurred during the opening of the Cheongwadae Main Building. A representative example is the damaged red carpet on May 23. The opening was forced ahead without considering the durability or capacity of the main building, making damage inevitable. Consequently, the foundation urgently signed a private contract under the name of the 'Cheongwadae Main Building Interior Viewing Environment Project' and spent 100 million KRW to reinforce the carpet.

Assemblyman Jeon criticized, "This is an example showing that the opening of Cheongwadae has been carried out without proper systems and procedures," and added, "The entire project needs to be reexamined and a proper plan must be established."

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