Assemblyman Lee Gwanghee "New Conservative Regulations for Political Fund Accounting Officers" Proposed [Leaking Donations]

Ensuring Transparency in Political Funding... No Wage Regulations
"Only Responsibility, No Compensation... Legal Issues Must Be Resolved"

Lee Kwang-hee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 11th that he has taken the lead in proposing the "Partial Amendment to the Political Funds Act," which legally clarifies the regulations on the payment of remuneration to accounting officers responsible for the income and expenditure of political funds.

According to Article 34 (Appointment and Notification of Accounting Officers) of the current Political Funds Act, representatives of political parties or support committees, members of the National Assembly with support committees, and candidates for public office elections are required to appoint accounting officers. The accounting officers are responsible for managing the accounts related to the income and expenditure of political funds and must report the accounts to the relevant election commission within a certain period.

However, there is no clear legal regulation regarding the payment of wages to accounting officers, who bear the important responsibility of ensuring transparency and preventing fraud in political funds. In reality, most accounting officers for members of the National Assembly are party officials such as secretaries in each member’s office, who perform accounting duties without pay. Since they are not accounting professionals, they regularly receive accounting training through the National Election Commission to carry out their duties.

Because the regulations on wage payments are not legally clear, the appointing authority may face issues if it tries to pay remuneration for accounting duties. The use of funds by politicians must be made through each member’s political fund account or support fund account, and paying remuneration through these accounts could violate the law. In a conversation, Representative Lee Kwang-hee pointed out, "Even if the appointing authority wants to pay remuneration for this, there is no regulation that clearly allows for proper payment of wages for the duties of the accounting officer, which causes difficulties."

In fact, most accounting officers in members’ offices either receive remuneration through promises of certain positions after public elections or take on the duties without pay. A staff member from a member’s office lamented, "Especially in cases where a member does not complete their term and resigns, the accounting officer of that member’s office has to handle a heavy workload to meet the tight deadline for submitting accounting reports," adding, "They bear responsibility but receive no compensation at all."

Representative Lee said, "It is necessary to establish Article 34-2 of the Political Funds Act, which clarifies the regulations on the payment of remuneration to political fund accounting officers, so that wages can be legally guaranteed."