[Reporter’s Notebook] National Assembly Members’ Accounting Reports Where the “People’s Will” Is Invisible

"It must have been better because the National Assembly was out of sight."

When I visited a Han River-side restaurant in Yongsan, Seoul, which appeared in the political donation accounting report of a member of the 21st National Assembly who had completed their term, I couldn't help but mutter to myself. The restaurant's interior, including paintings on the walls and wallpaper, as well as the tableware, was luxurious. From there, the scene of the National Assembly, the "hall of the people's will," was not visible.

After obtaining and analyzing the political donation accounting reports of 144 members who completed their terms in the 21st National Assembly from the Central Election Commission and the respective members' election committees, the 'people's will' was as invisible as the scene seen in the restaurant. Supporters collected money bit by bit, asking for fair, transparent, and good politics to support the members of the National Assembly. However, the members spent millions of won on overseas business trips just before the end of their terms, used nearly 30 million won on meals over six months under the name of meetings, spent over 100 million won on lawsuits and complaints, and distributed large amounts of holiday gifts to fellow members and aides.

It was impossible to know for what purpose they ate with whom, why they filed lawsuits, or why they went on business trips. Transparency such as who borrowed money from whom and who repaid it was not visible in the accounting reports, which were like a simple ledger of income and expenses. In short, there were no standards for preparation. This is because related receipts and explanatory materials can be separately submitted to the election committee. The common explanation from them was "It was spent legally according to proper procedures." This was hollow as an explanation from those who served as members of the National Assembly. The public expects ethics, principles, and trust from members of the National Assembly who work with salaries and donations, not just legal compliance.

Accounting fundamentally pursues transparency, so it is a principle to secure uniformity, reliability, sufficiency, and comparability. This is basic for corporate and government accounting as well. Compared to that, political donation accounting reports are like their own "honey pot," where even if they are written far from common sense or are poorly detailed, no one says anything. Moreover, citizens have no way to see these reports except by visiting the election commission office within six months of the reporting date to inspect them or by filing an information disclosure request. It is not easy to monitor.

To increase trust in political donations, it is necessary to return to basics, consider the public's perspective when using donations, study how other professions record accounting, and start with establishing principles and systems. Terms recorded differently in each member's office should be unified like corporate or government accounting. It is also necessary to start by detailing the specific use of salaries. If members consider the public and supporters as investors who gave votes and donations for their politics and disclose detailed statements regularly, backward practices will gradually disappear.

One of the representative areas that Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party, and Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, actively agreed on is the "revival of local party branches." The rationale is that off-site and young politicians need to have support committees to conduct smooth political activities and get closer to the people's will. To realize this rationale, a proper system to manage it is necessary. The two party leaders should not forget that the reason local party branches were abolished was due to public distrust of the political funds represented by donations, and even now, they should take the first step toward institutional improvements for transparent use and accounting of donations where the "people's will" is visible.