Public data was distorted

A website that public institutions use to publicize management information for the sake of transparency was found to contain false or erroneous information, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said yesterday.

All public institutions in the country are required to reveal details of management information including annual salaries of executives and employees and balance sheets on the website named All Public Information in One, known as Alio. It is part of the government’s efforts to be more transparent.

But the finance ministry has found many of the institutions have uploaded false information.

At a ministerial meeting on economic affairs, Hyun Oh-seok, deputy prime minister and finance minister, issued warnings to the institutions caught posting false information and demanded measures to prevent such practices in the future.

Under government guidelines set in December, public institutions should disclose public debt growth and its causes annually, for the past five years. They should also disclose welfare benefits in eight categories.

President Park Geun-hye said in an address in February that public institutions should be more transparent.

According to the finance ministry, 291 out of 295 institutions, or 99 percent of the total, have not complied with those guidelines.

As for disclosing debt amounts, only 36 institutions were in compliance with the guidelines.

No institution followed the guidelines about welfare benefits, the ministry said.

Of the total, as many as 263 institutions ignored their duties to reveal minutes of board meetings and audit reports.

The ministry kept track of violations and will impose penalty scores in its evaluation of public institutions in September.

The 38 institutions being watched by the government due to lax management include Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Railway Corporation, the Land and Housing Corporation and Korea Water Resources Corporation.

They were found by the ministry to be making excessive retirement payments by including irregular incentives in basic salaries.

“By the public institution operation law, CEOs and executives of those found posting false information will be warned and held responsible,” said the minister. “The government will continue examining the institutions.”

BY song su-hyun [ssh@joongang.co.kr]