[2020 National Audit] Northeast Asian History Foundation's Dokdo Research Project Poorly Executed "Meeting Held at a Bar"

Last Year Dokdo Sovereignty Protection and Marine Research Project Average Execution Rate 76.4%
Assemblyman Seodongyong Criticizes "Budget Savings and Not Working Are Different"

The view of Seodo (left) and Dongdo as seen from the maritime police patrol vessel Challenger [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The Northeast Asian History Foundation has been revealed to have poorly conducted research projects related to Dokdo and reported holding regular meetings at pubs.

On the 13th, an analysis of the expenditure details by project submitted by the Northeast Asian History Foundation to the office of Seo Dong-yong, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, showed that the average execution rate of last year's Dokdo sovereignty protection and marine research projects was only 76.4%. In particular, the project to correct online errors in the East Sea name notation spent only 1.7 million won out of a 10 million won budget and declared the project complete.

Looking at projects with low execution rates, despite being projects to collect materials located overseas, they were conducted only domestically, or expert meetings, advisory meetings, and work consultations necessary for project promotion were not held. In addition, most cases did not proceed according to the original plan due to the absence of the project manager, resulting in the project not being properly carried out.

The foundation explained that it reduced the number of business trips and converted overseas academic conferences into domestic ones to save budget. Regarding this, Assemblyman Seo pointed out, "Budget saving and not doing the work are entirely different matters," adding, "If the business trips or meetings were unnecessary from the start, the project design should have been revised at the planning stage."

Provided by the office of Seodongyong, Democratic Party of Korea

Most projects included domestic and overseas travel expenses and scheduled expert meetings, advisory meetings, and consultations with related organizations about 20 times a year, but no projects were executed as planned. On the other hand, reports indicated that regular meetings were held at pubs such as beer halls. According to the foundation's corporate card usage records, since the corporate card management guidelines were established in January 2018, payments made at pubs and similar venues amounted to 8,929,000 won. Additionally, there were violations of management guidelines such as private use at dental clinics and hospitals or splitting payments into multiple transactions, but over the past three years, the foundation never once created a record of corporate card violations according to the guidelines.

Assemblyman Seo stated, "As Japan's provocations over Dokdo sovereignty and historical distortion intensify, it is more important than ever to strengthen the logical basis for Dokdo sovereignty and actively criticize and refute Japan's claims through systematic and comprehensive responses via the foundation's research and projects," adding, "Measures should be prepared to ensure that related foundation projects are carried out substantively, and employee discipline should be established to prevent inappropriate use of corporate cards."