Gangnam Wine Bars, Hotels, and Famous Restaurants Used for Meals... 'Meeting = Food Tour?' [Leaking Sponsorship Funds]②

Dae-Soo Park Spent 29.77 Million KRW on Meals in 104th Session
Staff Meeting Held at Luxury Hotel Restaurant
Shin Yul: "Need Mechanisms to Regulate Usage and Outcomes"

Editor's NoteThe reason for abolishing district party organizations in the past was due to illegal political funds. Recently, the two major parties have been pushing for the revival of district parties. The prerequisite for the revival of district parties is the transparent use of political funds. What is the actual situation? Asia Economy requested information disclosure from the National Election Commission and regional election commissions and secured six months' worth of accounting reports before the term expiration of 144 members of the 21st National Assembly, who have now become 'former members of the National Assembly.' Based on this data, we prioritized verification items by examining the appropriateness of expenditure purposes and usage locations. We confirmed with the parties involved and the election commission, and also conducted on-site reporting. We also looked into whether the election commission properly verified the accounting reports submitted by them. Based on this, we focus on verifying and reporting on the use of political donations by lawmakers at the end of their terms. ①[Exclusive] Spending millions of won on office supplies at a kimchi factory logistics warehouse ②At Gangnam wine bars, hotels, and famous restaurants... 'Meetings = Gourmet tours?'

According to Asia Economy's investigation, the practice of using political donations for meals at expensive restaurants remains prevalent. Among the 144 former lawmakers whose terms ended on May 29, some lawmakers made over 100 payments using political funds (assets and support group donations) for meals under the pretext of meetings or gatherings.

The lawmaker who spent the most political funds on meals in the first half of this year was former lawmaker Park Dae-su. From January 1 to June 4, a period of 156 days, Park reportedly spent a total of 29,778,060 won over 104 occasions (93 meetings and 11 gatherings with lawmakers and aides). Park, who came from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and served on the Environment and Labor Committee in the 21st National Assembly, spent an average of 286,327 won per meal for meetings with labor groups, former and current lawmakers, and committee-related issue meetings.

The area where Park spent the most on meals was Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, near the National Assembly (47 times), followed by Gangseo-gu (11 times), Incheon (10 times), Seocho-gu (9 times), and Mapo-gu (8 times). By type of establishment, he paid 39 times at seafood-related restaurants such as Japanese restaurants (25 times), sashimi restaurants (7 times), eel restaurants (4 times), and seafood restaurants (3 times); 30 times at Korean restaurants including hanjeongsik (13 times); 16 times at meat restaurants including Korean beef (5 times); 14 times at Chinese restaurants; and 2 times at Western restaurants.

The largest single amount was at a freshwater eel restaurant in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province (730,600 won). He also spent 593,000 won at an Italian fine dining restaurant in Yongsan-gu, known as a proposal spot. Several tens of thousands of won were also paid multiple times at specific Korean and Japanese restaurants in Yeouido. Political donations were used at a Chinese restaurant in Yeouido (471,000 won), a Gangnam-gu Japanese restaurant listed in the Michelin Guide (441,000 won), and a Mapo-gu Korean restaurant selected by the Michelin Guide (390,000 won).

Park explained, "If I had dined with wealthy people, I wouldn't have done this, but since I hosted labor figures in difficult circumstances, I admit I went to slightly better places. However, I only held many related events and never used the funds personally or frivolously."

Following Park, the lawmakers who used political donations most for meals at meetings or gatherings were Jeon Hae-cheol (83 times, 25,274,390 won), Park Sung-joong (65 times, 9,109,300 won), Cho Eung-cheon (42 times, 7,539,290 won), and Noh Woong-rae (77 times, 7,136,400 won), all former lawmakers.

Jeon, a lawmaker from Ansan Sangnok-gap in Gyeonggi Province and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, paid 420,000 won at a Japanese restaurant in Yongin, Gyeonggi, and 480,000 won at a hanjeongsik restaurant in Jongno, Seoul, for meetings on local issues and regional garden-related gatherings. For meetings related to suicide prevention policy and anti-corruption reform policy, he spent 470,000 won each at sashimi restaurants in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and Seo-gu, Gwangju. For expert meetings on the Sakhalin Korean Residents Act, he held meetings at a famous Japanese fine dining restaurant in Gangnam, Seoul, selected by the Michelin Guide for two consecutive years (485,000 won), a famous Japanese omakase restaurant in Seongnam, Gyeonggi (403,000 won), and a restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul (439,000 won) for local issue meetings with lawmakers and aides.

Cho used all political donations, excluding assets, from his support group donations for meals at meetings. After leaving the Democratic Party on January 10, he used donations for meetings and meals related to the Reform New Party. He mainly used a Japanese restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul (341,000 won), and a hanjeongsik restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul (467,500 won). Additionally, he spent 450,000 won and 510,000 won at a meat restaurant in Yeouido for meetings summarizing activities of the Political Affairs Committee and National Assembly legislative activities, respectively.

Noh, who was a member of the Environment and Labor Committee, mostly made multiple payments under 100,000 won for meetings on environment and labor issues, and meetings related to the Public Official Election Act and Political Funds Act. However, he also used 312,000 won at a meat restaurant in Mapo-gu, Seoul, for discussing the future direction of the general election, and used donations at a hanjeongsik restaurant (480,000 won) and a Japanese restaurant (249,000 won) in Yeouido for meetings with fellow lawmakers. Noh is one of the few lawmakers who recorded the purpose of meetings and the number of attendees together.

On the other hand, former lawmaker Park Sung-joong did not record the number of attendees for any purpose and only reported 'policy meetings.' These were labeled from Policy Meeting 1 to Policy Meeting 66, with Policy Meeting 13 appearing to be a canceled payment. Park mostly held meetings at restaurants near the National Assembly in Yeouido, in Seocho, Seoul (his 20th and 21st district), and in Bucheon, Gyeonggi (his 22nd district). According to the accounting report, most meals were in the tens of thousands of won range, but he once paid 990,000 won at a cold noodle restaurant in Gangnam, Seoul. At a sashimi restaurant in Seocho-gu, Seoul, he spent a total of 2,107,000 won over six occasions: 940,000 won, 320,000 won, 311,000 won, 211,000 won, 166,000 won, and 159,000 won.

Although not among the top five, former lawmakers Lee Won-wook (36 payments) and Yang Geum-hee (25 payments) also spent 6,905,920 won and 5,562,182 won on meals, respectively. Lee used political donations for dinners including Reform New Party leadership dinners, party official lunches and dinners, meals for party and political issues and reform discussions, and 17 lunches with the National Assembly press corps. For leadership dinners, he spent 770,000 won at a hanjeongsik restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and 173,000 won and 338,000 won at Japanese restaurants in Yeouido. Lee recorded the dinner topics, attendees' affiliations and real names, and the number of attendees.

Yang, on the other hand, processed all expenses under the category 'legislative activity meal expenses.' There were also three hotel meals: 308,000 won at a Chinese restaurant in a hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, and 600,000 won and 227,000 won at another hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, all paid from the support group donation account. Additionally, she used political donations at an Italian fine dining restaurant in Yongsan-gu (680,000 won) and a wine bar in Gangnam-gu, Seoul (565,000 won) that was established by a liquor import and sales company but closed in July. The wine bar was promoted on social media as a lounge bar and wine bar, but its business registration was for food service, and it also sold pasta. Yang responded, "The place I went to was an Italian restaurant registered as a food business, and I only had meals for legislative activities, not alcohol. I am not aware if it was promoted as a wine bar or lounge bar."

Every time lawmakers' political donation accounting reports are disclosed, civic groups have argued that political donations should not be used for meals. Lawmakers' salaries are about 3.6 times the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (157 million won), higher than the U.S. (about 2.28 times), so there is no need to hold meetings at hotels or expensive restaurants using donations contributed by supporters who saved money. However, this investigation revealed that some lawmakers remain insensitive to this issue.

There are also calls for political donations to be used transparently since they are tax-deductible. Professor Shin Yul of Myongji University's Department of Political Science and Diplomacy said, "If lawmakers use donations for meetings, it could be discriminatory against non-incumbent politicians who cannot receive donations. Also, since political donations include indirect tax benefits, institutional measures are needed to regulate the usage locations, purposes, and outcomes in accounting reports."

Former lawmakers Park Dae-su and Yang Geum-hee each had a meal at an Italian fine dining restaurant in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where they received political donations in the first half of this year. The restaurant is famous on social media as a proposal hotspot because of its view of the Han River nightscape.
Photo by Lee Ki-min

Former lawmakers Park Dae-su and Yang Geum-hee each had a meal at an Italian fine dining restaurant in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where they received political donations in the first half of this year. Known as a popular proposal spot on social media (SNS) for its night view of the Han River.
[Photo by Lee Ki-min]