Assembly Receives Rice Subsidy Recipients Database
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) Monday submitted lists of farm subsidy recipients to the National Assembly's ad hoc committee to take measures against ineligible recipients.
Of approximately one million people known to be on the lists, some 280,000 are ineligible, including 110,000 civil servants and 6,000 employees of state-run firms.
The BAI obtained the lists from the Korea Health Insurance Corporation (KHIC) in late November, and classified the data into eligible and ineligible recipients.
Earlier, KHIC President Chung Hyong-keun rejected the demand by lawmakers of the largest opposition Democratic Party (DP) that lists be submitted to the Assembly, arguing doing so goes against privacy protection.
As political pressure from the opposition party mounted, Chung changed course and turned in the database to the BAI so as to help classify the database into eligible and ineligible recipients.
The largest DP insisted that lists of high-ranking government officials and politicians, who received the subsidies, be made public.
Meanwhile, the governing Grand National Party (GNP) claimed doing so would infringe upon privacy and therefore negotiators of the two parties should sit down to discuss ways of protecting privacy and taking adequate measures for ineligible recipients.
In a separate move, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security kicked off an internal scrutiny of civil servants who received the subsidies in late October.
The ministry encouraged civil servants to report themselves if they had ever received the subsidies over the past three years. The internal investigation will continue until Dec. 3. The ministry said it would let the ineligible recipients reimburse the subsidies and reprimand them.
The farm subsidies were introduced to help full-time farmers in 2005, when former President Roh Moo-hyun was in office.
Due to loopholes, those who own farmland but are not engaged in farming have taken advantage of the financial support despite ineligibility.
The issue of subsidies sparked an ethics controversy, as high-ranking government officials and some lawmakers were reported to have received the aid.
Lee Bong-hwa, former vice minister of health, welfare and family affairs, admitted she received it while in public service.
Facing mounting political attacks on her ethics as a government official from opposition parties, Lee stepped down from the post in October.