Parties Battle Over Details of National Budget Appropriations

Ruling and opposition party lawmakers are engaged in a heated battle over the evaluation of the 2000 state accounts.

The opposition Grand National Party maintains that it will correct the government's habit of spending the national budget for unapproved purposes, but the ruling Millennium Democratic Party is opposed.

Representative Lee Hahn-koo of the Grand National Party, who sits on the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, said the Kim Dae-jung administration spent 645.5 billion won ($497 million) of the 2000 budget for purposes other than those it was allocated for and that a thorough investigation into the matter was inevitable.

Mr. Lee said he may not approve the 2000 state accounts as a warning to the government even though doing so does not have any binding effect.

The opposition called on the government to punish officials in cabinet ministries who misappropriated funds. The party took particular issue with the 36.5 billion won the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries used for disaster relief efforts. The money had been allocated for setting up a Korea-Japan fisheries dispute resolution center among other purposes. The opposition said the ministry should seek disaster relief funds for three to five years at once and reflect the money in its budget to prevent such habitual misappropriation.

The opposition party said the Ministry of National Defense used the 436.5 billion won allocated for investment and infrastructure projects for other purposes and that the amount should be subtracted from the ministries budget for next year.

To improve the nation's budget and accounts system, the Grand National Party called for changing it to one operated in accordance with International Monetary Fund standards. That standard is the one used by the central government to evaluate local government budgets, miscellaneous funds and the budgets of state-run corporations.

The Millennium Democratic Party countered that the opposition's move was merely a ruse aimed at drumming up public support for reducing the national budget for next year.

by Lee Soo-ho