Special Committee on Civic Groups: "Eradicate the '3 Major Nuisances' in Civil Society... Support Small NGOs"

Accounting Fraud, Rumor Spreading, and Violence Promotion
National Funding Provided in Cases of Accounting Mismanagement

The People Power Party's Special Committee for the Advancement of Civic Groups has defined 'accounting fraud, rumor spreading, and incitement of violence' as the three major nuisances in civil society and decided to eradicate them.

On the 30th, Special Committee Chair Ha Tae-kyung held the first closed-door meeting of the committee at the National Assembly and told reporters that this decision was made.

The committee will receive reports on existing problems in civil society during the first round starting next week, identify areas for improvement, and then seek alternatives for the advancement of civil society in the second round.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chair Ha said, "The committee was not created to suppress civil society. Rather, it will include many measures to support civic groups." He explained that government funds will be provided to small NGOs that fall under 'poor management' rather than accounting fraud. Chair Ha stated, "Accounting fraud and poor accounting should be distinguished. While large NGOs may be involved in accounting fraud or embezzlement, for small NGOs with poor accounting, we will support accountants with government funds." Regarding specific support criteria, he added, "We need to decide after consulting with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety."

Regarding the list of civic groups suspected of accounting fraud, he said, "The government side has already conducted extensive investigations," and added, "We will review the reports and decide how much to disclose."

For the issue of fake news and rumor spreading, the committee decided to categorize them into 'environmental rumors' and '5.18 Democratization Movement rumors.' Chair Ha said, "There have been cases such as rumors about THAAD electromagnetic waves, Cheonseongsan salamanders, and desalination of seawater in Gijang. We will investigate these cases and inform the public about environmental groups that habitually spread rumors."

He continued, "To undermine the 5.18 Movement, we will organize rumors claiming that the 5.18 Movement was related to North Korea and prevent such NGOs from receiving government funding."

Regarding civic groups involved in violent protests, he said, "A representative example is the National Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination," and added, "We will compile a list and filter out groups that habitually organize violent coalition protests."

The committee is also considering measures to restrict funding for civic groups involved in violent protests. Chair Ha said, "Government funding is a means to advance NGOs policy-wise," and responded, "Guidelines including such content will likely be provided when reviewing funding applications."

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