'Why Are Autumn Mosquitoes So Strong? Is It a Promotion Post by Korea District Heating Corporation?'... 5.8 Billion Won 'Wasted' on Public Enterprise SNS Promotion

SNS Budgets of Public Institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Increase Annually
Public Institutions Flood with Irrelevant Promotional Posts
Assemblyman Gu Ja-geun: "Irresponsible Outsourcing Integration Must Be Improved"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] Public institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy are spending 5 billion KRW annually on SNS (social networking service) promotions such as Facebook, but proper management is not being carried out. There is criticism that without concrete operational plans, only taxpayers' money is being wasted.

On the 8th, Koo Ja-geun, a member of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, and Small and Medium Venture Business Committee from the People Power Party, analyzed the 'SNS promotion budget' data submitted by 55 public institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The total budget for 2020-2022 was 15.1 billion KRW. 3.9 billion KRW was spent in 2020, 5.4 billion KRW in 2021, and 5.8 billion KRW in 2022, showing an increasing trend each year.

The institution with the highest budget was Korea Gas Corporation, which was allocated 2.22 billion KRW over the past three years. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups received 1.83 billion KRW, Kangwon Land 1.45 billion KRW, Korea Electric Power Corporation and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power were allocated 1.06 billion KRW and 1.02 billion KRW respectively.

However, the SNS budgets are being poorly managed in many places. SNS channels created to promote ongoing projects posted content unrelated to the institutions. For example, Korea District Heating Corporation, which was allocated 570 million KRW over the past three years, had posts on its Facebook page such as "Do fingerprints differ from person to person?", "Why are autumn mosquitoes more vicious?", and "The voice of a black hole."

Capture of Korea District Heating Corporation Facebook page. Photo by Office of Assemblyman Gu Ja-geun

The promotional effect was also minimal. Korea Gas Technology Corporation spent 120 million KRW after launching its SNS channel in 2021, but the number of followers was only around 100. The average viewing duration on YouTube channels of most institutions was only 1 to 2 minutes.

Assemblyman Koo emphasized, "Since SNS is a communication channel with the public, it should not be operated in a way that wastes the budget. Careful management such as improving irresponsible integrated outsourcing is necessary."