Kiwon Hong of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee
Criticizes "Enriching a Small Cartel"
It has been revealed that a significant number of representatives from organizations selected to receive subsidies under the "Support Project for Activities to Promote North Korean Human Rights," established during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, concurrently held executive positions in other organizations. This situation inevitably raises concerns about the possibility of receiving overlapping subsidies.
According to Kiwon Hong, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, an investigation found that among the 37 organizations selected by the Ministry of Unification in March as recipients of subsidies for activities to promote North Korean human rights, 11 representatives simultaneously held executive positions in other organizations that were also selected.
To prevent overlapping subsidies, the Ministry of Unification had specified in its original announcement that "even if the organization names are different, if the representative is the same person, it will be regarded as the same organization." However, as more cases emerged of representatives concurrently holding executive positions in two or three organizations, criticism has arisen that the budget was inappropriately allocated to certain organizations. The Ministry of Unification allocated a total budget of 2.58 billion won to this project.
Among the representatives of organizations related to North Korean human rights who received subsidies, there was also an individual who ran as a proportional representative candidate for the People Power Party's satellite party in the most recent general election. Nam Sungwook, the head of the South-North Economic Research Institute, who was selected as a recipient for the North Korean human rights promotion project, was assigned number 20 on the proportional representative list for the People’s Future, the satellite party of the People Power Party, in the 22nd National Assembly general election.
Kiwon Hong criticized, "Given the original intention to prevent overlapping projects by prohibiting multiple organizations from being selected if they have the same representative, the composition of executives, such as board members, should also have been examined. By overlooking this issue during the selection process for some subsidy-receiving organizations, the support project for activities to promote North Korean human rights, which has been massively expanded over the past three years, has degenerated into a means for a small 'North Korean human rights cartel' to enrich themselves."
Meanwhile, in the budget proposal for next year, drafted for the first time by the Lee Jaemyung administration, the project has been abolished, and all subsidies supporting the activities of related private organizations have been completely cut.
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