Clearance Sale Practices Persist... Remaining Political Funds Average 128,000 KRW Per Person [Leaking Donations]⑪

The only balance in the donation account is 482 won
Most spent under the name of staff severance pay

Editor's NoteThe reason for abolishing the district party in the past was due to illegal political funds. Recently, the two major parties have been pushing for the revival of the district party. The prerequisite for the revival of the district party is transparent use of political funds. What is the actual situation? Asia Economy requested information disclosure from the Central Election Commission and regional election commissions and secured six months' worth of accounting reports before the expiration of the terms of 144 members of the 21st National Assembly. These individuals are now former members of the National Assembly. Based on the secured data, we prioritized verification items by examining the appropriateness of expenditure purposes and usage locations. We confirmed with the parties involved and the election commissions, and also conducted on-site reporting. We also uncovered the reality that the election commissions do not properly verify accounting reports. We focus on verifying and reporting on the use of political funds by members of the National Assembly near the end of their terms. ① Spending millions of won on office supplies at a kimchi factory logistics warehouse ② Using political funds for meals at wine bars, hotels, and famous restaurants in Gangnam... 'Meetings = Gourmet tours?' ③ Retirement pay is illegal... 'Retirement consolation money' is legal ④ Large-scale holiday gifts to fellow lawmakers with political funds ⑤ Spending 10 million won 10 days before term expiration and going on a solo business trip to the U.S. ⑥ Large legal fees spent despite the election commission's 'no problem' response ⑦ Spent millions on supporting fellow politicians ⑧ Political funds treated like petty cash? Paid traffic violation fines ⑨ Political fund account in the red near term end? Why? ⑩ What to do with YouTube channels grown with political funds ⑪ The practice of 'quick disposal' remains... Remaining political funds average 128,000 won per person

The practice of National Assembly members 'quickly disposing' of political funds near the end of their terms remains prevalent. The total political funds left by 144 members of the 21st National Assembly approaching term expiration amounted to 18,841,907 won, averaging 128,069 won per person.

A total of 18,841,907 KRW in political funds were left by 144 members of the 21st National Assembly whose terms are about to expire, averaging 128,069 KRW per person. Getty Images

According to the accounting reports submitted by 144 members of the 21st National Assembly before their term expiration, obtained through Asia Economy's information disclosure requests to the Central Election Commission and regional election commissions, the member who left the largest amount of political funds was former member Song Jae-ho with 6,614,598 won.

Following him were former members Choi Jae-hyung with 4,536,535 won, Park Kwang-on with 2,680,000 won, Hong Moon-pyo with 1,782,877 won, Jeong Jin-seok with 1,204,751 won, and Kim Seong-hee with 763,306 won. Their commonality was that the remaining balance was left only in the asset account of political funds. Political funds are divided into asset and donation accounts. Unlike donations, assets are reclaimed as personal assets if a balance remains.

On the other hand, balances remaining in the donation account belong to the political party, etc. This explains why the donation accounts of political funds unusually have small balances. Considering that up to 300 million won can be raised in donation funds during election years, the practice of rushing to spend donations at the last minute still persists. In this term-end accounting report, former member Jeon Hye-sook was the only one with a balance remaining in the donation account, amounting to 482 won.

Where did former National Assembly members mainly spend political funds before their term ended? Asia Economy secured all accounting reports of former members before term expiration and classified them by type, finding that the largest expenditure was for staff retirement pay (32 members, 22.2%). While retirement pay for special service public officials is illegal, retirement pay within a certain range is possible if given as encouragement or consolation money.

Next, one in five members used political funds to repay borrowed money. The number of members who used donations to repay loans reached 30 (20.8%). Former member Hong Young-pyo repaid 50 million won of asset loans borrowed in May 2022 on May 2, one month before term expiration, using donation funds. Former member Ahn Min-seok also spent the remaining 38,721,581 won in the donation account to repay loans.

Unless a politician is a heavyweight, it is difficult to get bank loans under the name of political funds, and generally they do not have many existing assets, so borrowing money is a kind of entry barrier for political newcomers. Reviewing the accounting reports, younger, first-term, or proportional representation members relied less on loans. Conversely, district members or senior members had larger loan amounts and more frequent repayments. Former member Park Kwang-on, a three-term member and former floor leader, reported 205 million won in loan income in the six months before his term ended. Former members Song Jae-ho and Lee Chae-ik also reported loan incomes in the hundreds of millions of won.

Meanwhile, unusual cases outside of typical types, such as spending large amounts on meals at famous restaurants or frequently sending text messages, accounted for 25 members (17.4%). Group donations (11 members, 7.6%) and support for fellow lawmakers (9 members, 6.3%) were fewer in number in the main classification but often overlapped with other types.

However, not all members spent all their political funds. Eleven members (7.6%) returned most of their remaining political funds to their parties in accordance with the purpose of the Political Funds Act. Additionally, 26 members (18.1%) spent all their political funds through ordinary expenditures without special points, such as regional office rent and protocol vehicle fees, or through transfers to preliminary candidate accounts.