Halve lawmakers’ welfare benefits

A lawmaker has a team of seven aides, including one Grade 4 secretary, two Grade 5, one each of grades 6, 7 and 9. Lawmakers used to have only one Grade 5 secretary each in the past but a law revision added one last year. Such aides earned combined salaries of 380 million won (350,000 U.S. dollars) from government coffers. So aides to the National Assembly`s 299 lawmakers earn more than 100 billion won (92 million dollars) combined. A lawmaker can also hire two interns each who are paid 1.2 million won (1,008 dollars) each per month. News reports say many of the aides are being deployed to lawmakers’ constituencies to manage voters rather than support legislative activities. Taxpayers’ money is thus being spent on helping lawmakers win re-election.

A lawmaker also earns 124.39 million won (110,000 dollars) in salary per year. His or her family and children’s tuition allowances were also introduced separately. Ex-lawmakers aged 65 or older receive 1.2 million won (1,008 dollars) per month in “seniority assurance” pension.

Lawmakers can also raise and spend up to 150 million won (138,000 dollars) in political funds per year up to 300 million won (276,000 dollars) in a general election year. By exploiting their legislative rights, they continue to enact laws that benefit themselves. This is a typical example of legal corruption as specified by the U.N. anti-corruption treaty. Legal corruption refers to the creation of laws and regulations designed to assure private interests of those in power.

Massive national budget is spent on elections and politics as well. The 2007 presidential election saw spending of 270 billion won (249 million dollars), the 2008 general elections 310 billion won (286 million dollars), and last year`s local elections 830 billion won (766 million dollars). Whenever by-elections are conducted twice yearly, millions to tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers` money are wasted. Subsidies for political parties also reach 33 billion won (30 million dollars) per year. Lawmakers in Britain and Germany share offices and aides with other lawmakers to save costs and spend far less on elections.

Korean lawmakers have a tendency to set and implement policies aimed at garnering votes without studying the source of budget. Their pledge to halve college tuition is one such policy. To block the political circle from setting a wave of pork-barrel policies, the government will cut more than 1 trillion won (920 million dollars) earmarked for projects receiving state subsidies next year. Conservative civic groups including Right Korea have urged politicians to "halve their own pay first.” If lawmakers believe that cutting tuition in half is a pressing agenda to help the people`s livelihood, they should set an example by halving their welfare and political expenses and provide the funds to universities.

Editorial Writer Lee Jin-nyong (jinnyong@donga.com)