Special Purposes Budget Rises 48%

On November 24, Lee Han-gu, representative of Grand National Party, insisted that the budget for special activities has increased 48 percent since the launch of the Roh administration. The annual budget for special activities, an annual report by the Ministry of Planning and Budget, shows that total budgets for next year have earmarked 813.7 billion won for special purposes, a 48 percent (265.4 billion won) rise from 548.3 billion in 2002.

The budget for special activities is spent discretionally without bill attachments and is not subject to the board of audit and inspection for balance books and to the National Assembly for data submission. It is the fund for task forces and investigations.

It is widely used by the National Intelligence Service and the National Police Agency.

The annual rise of the budget was the highest (271 percent) for the Ministry of Science and Technology, followed by the Ministry of Unification (144 percent) and the National Assembly (103 percent).

The ministry of foreign affairs and commerce, the Korea independent commission against corruption, and the Korea national security council has been allocated budgets since the Roh administration. The total of the budget being spent on special activities since the current government took office, including next year’s budget, is estimated at 3.664 trillion won. The budget of special activities was 1.946 trillion won under former president Kim Dae-Jung (1999-2002). The incumbent administration earmarked 114.3 billion won for Cheong Wa Dae, 6.3 billion won for the office of the prime minister, 1.1 billion for the government information agency, and 34.9 billion won for the national assembly as budget of special activities.

Lawmaker Lee said, “Cheong Wa Dae, the office of prime minister, and the national assembly rather than investigation organizations abuse large sums of the fund for no specific causes. The budget for special activities should be frozen or cut for the next year as it is non-transparent money, so the minimum is the best.”

jkmas@donga.com