[National Assembly Research Group]② Where Did the Research Go... 45 Million Won Supported Even Without Activity

Five Research Groups Without Service or Policy Reports
Focus on Packaging Legislative Achievements Rather Than Research Activities
National Assembly Refuses to Disclose Evaluation Citing "Obstruction to Research and Development"

Editor's NoteAs of October 10, 67 parliamentary research groups have been formed in the 22nd National Assembly. Research groups led by People Power Party members have been formed mainly around senior lawmakers. Research groups led by Democratic Party members have been formed around the 'Lee Jae-myung policy.' However, seven lawmakers did not join any research group, citing reasons such as not wanting to belong to any faction. The status of research groups was analyzed in three parts. ①Taking a closer look at parliamentary research groups… ②Research groups that do not conduct research

The National Assembly provides approximately 20 million KRW annually as research activity funds to research groups established by lawmakers to facilitate their legislative research activities. However, it has been confirmed that many of these research groups did not commission any research projects or produce policy reports even once during the four-year term of the 21st National Assembly. Even when research projects were commissioned, some were poorly conducted, such as conducting opinion polls targeting residents in their own constituencies. This has raised calls for verification of research group activities.

On the 15th, dark clouds gathered heavily over the National Assembly building. With the 22nd general election having concluded on the 10th, attention is focused on how the 21st National Assembly, with just over a month left in its term, will resolve pressing issues such as pension reform and the abolition of the financial investment tax. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Asia Economy conducted a full survey of four years' worth of activity reports from 64 parliamentary research groups registered in the 21st National Assembly. As a result, 19 research groups were found to have never conducted even a small-scale research project. Six research groups failed to produce the policy reports they were supposed to produce annually. Five groups, including the '1.5℃ Forum,' 'National Assembly Maritime and Fisheries Forum,' 'Policy Experts Forum Observing Small and Medium Enterprises and Local Markets on Site,' 'National Wealth Forum,' and 'Democracy and Welfare State Research Association,' neither conducted research projects nor produced policy reports.

Nevertheless, these research groups received tens of millions of KRW in research activity funds every year. The total research activity funds received by the five research groups that conducted neither small-scale research projects nor policy reports amounted to 101,702,001 KRW. For example, the 'Democracy and Welfare State Research Association' received about 19.14 million KRW in 2020, the first year the group was established. Due to poor performance, its activity funds were cut to 9.02 million KRW in 2021, but increased significantly to 24.44 million KRW in 2022. It is presumed that the increase in 2022 was due to high scores from the support review committee, citing 10 seminars and 13 bill proposals in 2021.

The research group 'Life Respect Forum,' which existed from 2020 to 2023, was virtually inactive, not spending any budget even once each year. In 2021, it produced only one 26-page policy report titled 'AI Ethics Issues and Suggestions.' Even that report was merely a compilation of AI ethics norms found in press releases, articles, and reports from page 9 onward. Nonetheless, it received a total of 45.786 million KRW: 13.3 million KRW in 2020, 9.015 million KRW in 2021, 13.3 million KRW in 2022, and 10.171 million KRW in 2023.

Activity funds provided even without activity... Legislative activities used to embellish achievements

Research projects conducted by research groups also revealed problems. The research group '2040 Youth Cafe,' led by former Democratic Party lawmaker Yoo Jung-joo and former Justice Party lawmaker Ryu Ho-jeong, commissioned a small-scale research project to a columnist for 3 million KRW. The resulting report did not specify the author's name and explained that the materials were created by referencing other papers and articles. The research group 'Beyond Unification to Eurasia,' led by former Democratic Party lawmaker Noh Woong-rae, conducted an opinion poll through the polling agency Innercom on December 14-15, 2022, targeting 523 men and women aged 19 or older residing in the Seoul Mapo-gu Gap constituency, which was his district, regarding opinions on the Russia-Ukraine war. The cost of this poll was 5 million KRW.

Some groups focused on embellishing legislative activities, which require less effort than research, as achievements. They even included bill proposals unrelated to their research groups to receive high scores. The National Assembly Education and Culture Forum, established to develop policies in education and culture, listed the 'Resolution urging the implementation of a peace Olympics at the 2024 Pyeongchang Winter Youth Olympics by forming a North-South unified team' as a legislative achievement in its 2022 activity report. The relevance to research activities was explained as "The formation of a North-South unified team can boost the pride of our nation" and "It aims to contribute to peace on the Korean Peninsula and host a successful Olympics that will be remembered in history."

National Assembly refuses to disclose evaluation scores... Citing "psychological burden on evaluators"

The main reason for this situation is pointed out as the allocation of scores that do not align with the purpose of research groups. Research groups are evaluated annually by the support review committee, with a total score of 470 points composed of 250 points for research activities, 100 points for legislative activities, 150 points for policy reports, and 20 points for activity plans. Among the research activity items, small-scale research projects are worth 5 points per project, with a maximum of 10 points. In contrast, seminars and discussions receive 8 points per session, and exhibitions receive 5 points each.

Currently, the National Assembly Secretariat only discloses outstanding research groups as decided by the support review committee but does not disclose the evaluation scores of research groups for each year, which are the criteria for distributing research activity funds. In response to a request for information disclosure from this publication, the National Assembly stated, "If disclosed, it may undermine the fairness of the evaluation and cause psychological burden to the evaluators," and added, "According to Article 9, Paragraph 1, Item 5 of the Act on Disclosure of Information by Public Agencies, it is judged to be information with substantial reasons that would significantly hinder fair performance and therefore cannot be disclosed."