[2020 National Audit] Only One Meeting a Year but Embezzling 430 Million Won Budget

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Concerns have been raised that the advisory committees under the President and other government administrative agency committees are being poorly managed at a serious level.

Jang Je-won, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the People Power Party, pointed out on the 21st that, after analyzing the National Audit Office's data received for the national inspection, out of 574 administrative agency committees, 73 committees (13%) did not hold any in-person or written meetings for one year (from July 2018 to June 2019).

Additionally, during this period, 83 committees held only one meeting, 70 held two meetings, and 61 held three meetings, meaning that 287 committees, or 50% of the total, held three or fewer meetings.

It was revealed that 287 committees, accounting for 50% of all committees, either did not hold any meetings (written or in-person) or held meetings three times or fewer: 83 committees held one meeting, 70 held two meetings, and 61 held three meetings.

Among these committees, 153 did not hold any in-person meetings for a year, yet the total budget allocated for meetings among the 574 committees was 36 billion KRW.

In particular, among the President's committees, the National Human Resources Committee did not hold any meetings, and the Special Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Areas held only one meeting despite having a meeting budget of 430 million KRW.

Representative Jang stated, "Through a comprehensive survey of administrative agency committees, unnecessary committees should be reorganized and properly operated according to their intended purpose."