[Exclusive] Ministry of Land Unaware of Affiliate's False Report for Nine Months

False Completion Reported Despite Project Delays
Maintenance Contract Signed with Underperforming Contractor

It was belatedly revealed, just ahead of the National Assembly audit, that the operator of the "Aviation Information Portal," considered a core infrastructure of the domestic aviation industry, submitted a false report. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is responsible for oversight and supervision, failed to notice the false report for nearly nine months after receiving it. Due to ongoing mismanagement, key statistics have been omitted or attached files have been corrupted on the Aviation Information Portal, leaving issues unaddressed and causing ongoing inconvenience for the aviation industry.

According to Assemblyman Han Junho of the Democratic Party of Korea (member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee) on October 12, the Korea Aviation Association, under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, submitted a false report in December last year claiming to have completed the "Aviation Information Portal System Operation Outsourcing Project," which began in January of the same year, even though the project was not actually finished. The project was only completed three months later, in March. The project involved migrating the system to the cloud and relocating it to the Daegu Center of the National Information Resources Service in line with e-government policy. The planned duration was one year, with a total cost of 690 million won.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which has oversight responsibility, was found to have been unaware of the false report for the past nine months. Assemblyman Han pointed out, "The supervising ministry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, was completely unaware of the overall mismanagement," adding, "This is a clear case of dereliction of duty, as they failed to carry out even the minimum checks required for a project funded by taxpayers' money."

In addition, there is criticism that the Korea Aviation Association effectively gave a "self-pardon" by selecting the same contractor responsible for the project delay as the maintenance contractor for the Aviation Information Portal System for three years from 2025 to 2027. The association explained its decision to sign the maintenance contract with the contractor by stating, "We agreed that the incomplete tasks would be supported free of charge during maintenance," and "The company that developed the system is more efficient at carrying out maintenance tasks than a new contractor."

Aviation Information Portal Air Passenger OD (Origin-Destination) Survey Report page. Only the 2018, 2023, and 2024 reports are uploaded, and the rest are missing.

The appearance of displaying a 2008 article in the 'Most Viewed News' section within the Aviation Information Portal

The Aviation Information Portal is a key infrastructure used across the national aviation industry, including in government policy reports, academic research, and submissions to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It provides a wide range of information, from air transport and aviation industry statistics to aviation-related laws, major aviation news, and job information in the aviation sector. Over the past five years (2020-2024), it has recorded an average of 3.4 million visits annually.

Since last year, project delays and poor management have led to frequent errors throughout the Aviation Information Portal. Some key materials, such as the Air Passenger OD (Origin-Destination) Survey Report, have been partially omitted, and the "Oil Price and Exchange Rate" statistics did not provide exchange rate information. There were also cases where website links to major aviation news were broken, or a 2008 article was displayed in the "Most Viewed News" section, causing confusion. The association stated, "We will complete the repairs by December."

An aviation industry official said, "Before making important business decisions, such as launching new routes, we need to analyze market size and competitors' status in detail, but since last year, there have been times when incorrect information appeared on the Aviation Information Portal," adding, "When changes to aircraft types by airlines are not properly reflected on the portal, it becomes impossible to accurately determine information such as seat supply or load factor by route."

National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee member Junho Han, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea Supreme Council, Goyang (Eul), Gyeonggi

Assemblyman Han stated, "Through this National Assembly audit, I will thoroughly verify the appropriateness of the maintenance contract, which is clouded by suspicions of systematic false reporting and self-pardon by the Korea Aviation Association," adding, "I will demand a rigorous audit of the overall system management by both the supervisory Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the operating Korea Aviation Association, and take every measure to prevent any waste of taxpayers' money."