They Said They Would Give 40,000 Won for Culture Expenses on a First-Come, First-Served Basis... But Officials Who Knew in Advance Swept It All Up

"Government Official Acquaintances Already Applied," Civil Complaints
Jeju Provincial Audit Committee Launches Investigation
Youth Officials Knew Before Residents and 'Swept Up' Applications

Jeju Provincial Office. Yonhap News Agency

It has been revealed that the benefits of the Jeju Cultural Welfare Expense project, which provides cultural welfare points to youth, were given to public officials who were aware of the details in advance.

On the 19th, the Jeju Provincial Audit Committee announced that as a result of the investigation into the 'Jeju Youth Cultural Welfare Points Support Project,' it requested the governor to issue a warning to the department in charge and caution the related personnel. The Jeju Youth Cultural Welfare Points Support Project is a program by Jeju Province that provides 40,000 KRW annually in cultural welfare expenses to the first 10,000 youths residing in Jeju to offer opportunities to enjoy culture and the arts.

According to the Audit Committee, the province announced the project on the Jeju Provincial Government website at 9 a.m. on May 22 and began accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis. However, due to a large number of applicants from the start, the application period closed early at 1:11 p.m., just four hours later. The originally designated application period by the province was one month, until June 21. The project came under suspicion when a youth posted on the provincial government homepage's 'Jeju-do e Baranda' (Wishes for Jeju Province) stating, "I asked around and found out that public official acquaintances had already applied in the morning." Another youth expressed doubts, saying, "Honestly, I am curious about the proportion of public officials among the applicants."

In response, the Audit Committee launched an investigation and confirmed that two days before the announcement date, on the 20th of the same month, the province had sent documents requesting cooperation in promoting the project to the main office, affiliated institutions, and eup/myeon/dong offices. Therefore, young public officials were able to learn about the project information two days earlier than the general residents. In fact, among the total 10,000 applicants, 1,080 were public officials, accounting for 34.03% of all young public officials in Jeju Province (3,174). In contrast, general applicants numbered 8,920, which is only 5.74% of the general eligible population (155,450).

The Audit Committee stated, "There were complaints about the disproportionate number of public officials applying compared to the general public and the unfair timing of information provision regarding the support project," adding, "This resulted in a decline in administrative fairness, transparency, and trustworthiness. In the future, project information should not be provided exclusively to specific groups."