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October 22, 2009
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| The Lee Myung-bak administration’s first large-scale audit of civic groups has uncovered some evidence of possible wrongdoing. The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea said yesterday it found that a civic group which is leading a movement to protect the Han River embezzled about 200 million won ($170,000) in government funds it received as a subsidy. The Han River Protection Movement Group, launched in 2000, has 4,500 members. In response to the audit agency’s findings, the group said it spent the state funds to lease its office and on other activities because it faced financial hardships. The subsidy was supposed to be used for activities that met foundation goals. The discovery came only a day after the Korean People’s Artist Federation, the nation’s largest federation of progressive artists, was found to have misused around 500 million won in government subsidies. The audit agency said it has evidence that a worker at the left-leaning group used some of the money for personal matters. The funds were supposed to be distributed across regional branches of the organization. As soon as it is finished collecting necessary evidence, the agency plans to ask the police or prosecutors to look into the case. The findings come after the audit board began an inspection in May of 543 civic groups on culture, environment and society that have been offered annual government subsidies of 80 million won or more during the previous three years. The final results are scheduled for release early next month. The board said the worker with the artist federation is not an executive and did not reveal the exact amount of embezzled government funds. The past two administrations - those of the late Kim Dae-jung and late Roh Moo-hyun - encouraged ordinary citizens to participate in national and social affairs, raising the portion of government funds allocated to their activities. As of the end of last month, there were 7,888 civic groups officially registered with the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. Since the middle of last year, the Lee Myung-bak administration has tried to reduce subsidies for these groups. Some of those formerly pro-government leftist civic groups have turned against the Lee administration. Regarding the government’s audit, Park Jie-won, a lawmaker in the main opposition Democratic Party and the closest confidant of the late President Kim, claimed earlier this month that the audit board was conducting an inspection targeting “left-wing groups.” But Kim Hwang-sik, head of the board, said, “We are not interested in whether a civic group is left-wing or right-wing. I give you my word that the inspection was made with no consideration of ideology.” The audit board also said the Federation of Artistic & Cultural Organizations of Korea, a conservative group, returned a 200 million won government subsidy after receiving a warning from the watchdog for misspending it. By Seo Ji-eun, Baek Il-hyun [spring@joongang.co.kr] |
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