KARI Spends Lavishly on Alcohol with Corporate Card, Submits False Report to National Assembly, Recovers Funds Belatedly

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as KARI) has come under criticism on September 22 for allegedly misusing a corporate credit card to pay for alcohol at a workshop overseen by its president, falsifying payment records to conceal the expense, and submitting a false report to the National Assembly. This workshop was directly organized by President Lee Sangchul, and it was only after the National Assembly pointed out the issue that KARI admitted its wrongdoing and belatedly recovered the expenses.

원본보기 아이콘

According to documents obtained by Choi Minhee, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, President Lee Sangchul of KARI held a two-day, one-night workshop with 24 KARI executives at a resort in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, from April 1 to 2. After the workshop, he allegedly engaged in so-called "split billing" by disguising and separating payments for dinner and lunch.

It was reported to the National Assembly that dinner on the first day cost 1.4 million won, while on the second day, Team A spent 342,000 won and Team B spent 272,000 won for lunch. In reality, however, a total of 1,742,000 won was spent on the first day's dinner, including alcohol. Lawmaker Choi pointed out that KARI falsely reported to the National Assembly that “the lunch was split between two teams who ate separately.”

This action constitutes a violation of KARI’s own corporate card usage guidelines, which explicitly prohibit dividing a single payment into multiple transactions, known as split billing. The fact that such illegal conduct occurred systematically at an official workshop attended and overseen by President Lee Sangchul is a clear indication of widespread moral indifference and a breakdown of ethical discipline within the organization.

Another corporate card expense of 449,000 won, which KARI initially reported to the National Assembly as having been used for a meeting, was actually spent at a bar during an after-party. KARI admitted that this was an inappropriate use of funds and has since recovered the entire amount. The institute’s guidelines strictly prohibit the use of corporate cards at drinking establishments.

Previously, President Lee Sangchul, just two days after taking office, replaced the official vehicle with a new one at the expense of taxpayers by paying a penalty fee, and spent approximately 100 million won to remodel the director’s office.

원본보기 아이콘

Lawmaker Choi strongly criticized, “Since President Lee took office, there has been growing concern that KARI’s standards of public institution management ethics have been severely undermined. The institute’s blatant moral indifference, even to the point of submitting false reports to the National Assembly, cannot be tolerated. President Lee must apologize to the public and take responsibility.” She added, “President Lee has long faced criticism as a so-called ‘parachute appointee’ who was appointed during the acting presidency immediately after the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol. A comprehensive audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection is absolutely necessary to thoroughly investigate all improper expenditures at KARI.”

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.