Military slapped for diverting funds

By Lee Tae-hoon

A parliamentary report has revealed that the Ministry of National Defense and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) have frequently diverted funds for cancelled military projects.

According to the latest report by the National Assembly Budget Office, the DAPA scrapped its plan to purchase a presidential plane with a budget of 14.2 billion won ($13.7 million) late September last year.

It cancelled the project because Boeing, which was the sole bidder of the project, failed to meet requirements that Seoul requested in its proposal.

The report found that the state-run acquisition agency did not return the remaining 14.1 billion won to the Treasury; instead it injected the money into completely different projects, including the development of the T-50 Golden Eagle, a domestic supersonic advanced jet trainer, and the purchase of the F-15K fighters.

The DAPA diverted 8.4 billion won for the T-50 development and 5.7 billion won for the purchase of F-15K fighters and maritime patrol aircraft.

The parliamentary document also showed that the defense ministry diverted a 7.6-billion-won budget allocated for a defense network integration project.

It spent 676 million won for a software upgrade of Air Force units near the western sea border and 6.9 billion won to revamp the C4I military command system without parliamentary approval.

However, Maj. Choi Jong-ho, a DAPA spokesman, downplayed the issue, claiming that all the changes in defense spending plans went through legitimate procedures and received approval from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

“All extra expenditure and diversion of funds for projects, such as the T-50 and F-15K, were strictly reviewed and were legitimate,” he said.