Government Budgets Up 42.3 Billion Won

Presidential committee budgets for this year have increased by some 24.2 billion won compared to the previous year, according to a report submitted to the National Assembly Budget Office yesterday.

If prime ministerial committees are included, the increase totals nearly 42.3 billion won.

According to a report titled: “Budgets for Presidential and Prime Ministerial Committees” that Rep. Lee Gye-kyung of the Grand National Party (GNP) asked the National Assembly Budget Office (NABO) to analyze, this year’s budget for 29 presidential committees totaled 197.66 billion won, up 24.21 billion won from 173.45 billion won last year.

Adding the budget for prime ministerial committees, the entire committee budget rose by 42.33 billion won from 391 billion won last year to 433.33 billion won this year.

Among the presidential advisory committees, the newly created Presidential Committee on Judicial Reform registered the largest budget boost by increasing its budget by 3.54 billion won.

The National Economic Advisory Council, the Presidential Committee on Government Innovation and Decentralization, and the Korea Tripartite Commission increased their budgets by 580 million won, 440 million won and 280 million won, respectively.

Meanwhile, the budget of the Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Reunification shrank by 380 million won.

The report revealed that the budgets of 20 out of 24 presidential committees, including the National Bioethics Committee, the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative, and the Presidential Advisory Committee on Science and Technology, were incorporated into those of relevant government agencies, not Cheong Wa Dae’s.

Only nine of 27 prime ministerial advisory committees were given budgets. But four out of the nine committees, including the Child Policy Coordination Committee and the Disabled Welfare Coordination Committee, were only given a few million won each, leading to criticism that their activities are effectively meaningless.

Yong-Gwan Jung yongari@donga.com