Government Is Assailed For Mismanagement of A Range of State Funds

Various state-managed funds were administered recklessly and incurred 50.4 trillion won ($39.4 billion) in losses over the past three years, an opposition lawmaker claimed Sunday.

Representative Lee Hahn-koo of the Grand National Party, who sits on the National Assembly's Committee on Budget and Accounts, said 44 out of 57 of the funds did not qualify for a rating of C, which is average.

Mr. Lee said he evaluated and analyzed the funds in accordance with standards set by a fund management evaluation team at the Ministry of Planning and Budget.

The amount allotted to state-managed funds increased 182 percent, from 82 trillion won in 1997 to 231 trillion won this year.

According to Mr. Lee the increase is due to the government's policy of using funds that receive little interest from the public for purposes other than what they are authorized for.

Mr. Lee said seven funds, including the Industrial Infrastructure Fund, the Science and Technology Promotion Fund and the Amateur Sports Promotion Fund were rated D, which means they scored 40 points on a scale of 100.

The North-South Cooperation Fund and the Industrial Infrastructure Fund a rating of D- for failing to improve on poor management practices pointed out last year.

The Cultural Events Promotion Fund got a rating of E for misappropriations. The Science and Technology Promotion Fund, the Amateur Sports Promotion Fund and two other funds got a rating of E for mismanagement.

The average score was 51.9 out of 100. A score of 100 is a rating of A+ and a score of 0 is an F-.

The evaluation panel at the Ministry of Planning and Budget said it would comprehensively evaluate the project management and asset management of each state-managed fund and announce their scores. Last month it issued a report in which only the ratings were mentioned instead of the individual scores.

Mr. Lee called on the government to drastically reduce the number of state-managed funds and to regularly announce to the public how they are being managed.

by Ko Jung-ae