[2023 National Audit] "Public Air Mileage Should Be Used for Donations"… Lee Chang-yong Says "Good Proposal"

On the 23rd, at the Bank of Korea in Jung-gu, Seoul, Governor Lee Chang-yong is responding to a lawmaker's question during the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee's audit of the Bank of Korea.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee Chang-yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea, responded to the suggestion that public airline miles accumulated by Bank of Korea employees during overseas business trips should be used for donations to socially vulnerable groups rather than being taken as retirement benefits when individuals retire, saying it is a "good proposal."

At the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee audit held on the 23rd at the Bank of Korea headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, Governor Lee replied to the remark by Han Byung-do, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who pointed out that "it is undesirable for public airline miles accumulated through the budget to be privately owned."

According to Representative Han, the public airline miles of the Bank of Korea that expired due to retirement from 2018 to July of this year amounted to 16,617,530 points. This is equivalent to 1,661 round trips to Jeju Island, 553 round trips to Japan and China, and 237 round trips to North America and Europe.

If Bank of Korea employees do not use the airline miles accumulated during overseas business trips for work-related purposes, they can take them personally upon retirement, and it appears that this practice has become established at the Bank of Korea.

The employee who took the most airline miles from the Bank of Korea was Executive A, who retired in May 2021 with 553,497 points. During the five years before retirement, this executive went on 34 overseas business trips but did not use a single point for work-related purposes.

Representative Han said, "According to the enforcement rules, when public airline miles can be used to secure airline tickets or upgrade airplane seats, these miles should be used first," adding, "Although airline miles are a kind of points accumulated individually, they are clearly adjusted through the Bank of Korea’s budget, so they have a strong public nature. If airline tickets were purchased with miles, it would have resulted in budget savings."

However, Representative Han noted that the efficiency is low because the seats available for purchase with airline miles are limited, and suggested that instead, ways to use these miles for donations to vulnerable groups should be considered.

Representative Han said, "Looking at other institutions, Jeonbuk Province purchased various goods with 498,000 miles that were about to expire and donated them to infant residential facilities and welfare facilities for the disabled, and the National Police Agency also donated goods worth about 10 million won to social welfare institutions," adding, "The Bank of Korea has been reluctant to donate because it is a ticketing institution, but stepping forward to donate is also a good method."

It was revealed that the Bank of Korea made social donations worth a total of 1.97 billion won from 2018 to last year, which is only 0.007% on average annually compared to the Bank of Korea’s net income. Regarding the use of airline miles for social donations, Governor Lee said, "It seems like a good proposal."

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