[Editorial] No more blind subsidies for civic groups

Murky bookkeeping at non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including civic groups has come under scrutiny. According to the presidential office, 31.4 trillion won ($25 billion) from the government coffers went to NGOs from 2016 to 2022. The subsidies amounted to 5.45 trillion won this year alone. The number of beneficiaries increased to 27,215 last year from 22,881 in 2016. The amount excludes subsidies from local governments and contributions from education offices and public institutions. The spending increase would be natural as the government help cannot reach everywhere in a diversified society.

But it is a different story if the funding ends up in the wrong places and is wasted. Rep. Yoon Mee-hyang — a former head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, who later became a Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker in 2020 — was accused of embezzling some of the donations for the survivors and tampering with the accounting. But the government did not pursue a probe on NGO irregularities in fund spending and management. Amid the oversight, public funding was exploited by over-reporting consultants for teenage issues and other service fees.

Some used the funds for ideological activities unrelated to their organization missions. The joint funding of 11 billion won by the Ministry of the Interior and Gyeonggi Province and Ansan city governments for projects related to the Sewol ferry sinking over the last six years went to pro-North Korean activities. A group pocketed a subsidy for “family communication projects” although its head openly supported communism and praised Russia on social media networks. One civic group which received subsidies from the Seoul municipal government from March last year for teenage care even carried out programs to help understand North Korea’s Worker’s Party Congress, not to mention staging anti-government rallies.

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has been conducting a special audit on 1,716 civic groups which received government subsidies from August. The government plans to expand an investigation on public funding to NGOs. President Yoon Suk-yeol said the act of embezzling state funds for personal purposes cannot be tolerated. The funding comes from taxpayers. The government must uncover hidden follies through the BAI and government probes, punish abuses, and come up with clear guidelines on subsidy handouts and the use of the money.

But the probe aimed at enhancing transparency in funding to NGOs should be free of bias. Under the Lee Myung-bak administration, funding to conservative bodies jumped by more than eight-fold and vice versa to liberal organizations under the Moon Jae-in administration. NGOs must take this opportunity to return to their funding through donations and their work through voluntary civilian participation.