Text Fwd: Spy Agency’s Ballooning Budget Under Scrutiny

Korea Times
09-19-2009 21:39
Spy Agency’s Ballooning Budget Under Scrutiny

Amid the unfolding controversy over the alleged use of the nation's top spy agency fund to snoop on civic organizations, the large sum of unexplained expense used by the National Intelligence Service is increasingly becoming under scrutiny, Kyunghyang Ilbo said Saturday.

The spy agency's so-called "special activities fee" this year is nearing 500 billion won, accounting for more than half of the government and the National Assembly budget for such purposes combined.

According to a National Assembly report released on Friday, the amount of special activities fee, which doesn't require receipts that show where the money is spent took up 56.4 percent or 486 billion won, which is much larger than, for example, that for the Defense Ministry that tallied at 164 billion won.

The special activities fee for other organizations such as the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae amounted to 2.2 billion won, while the Unification Ministry was 1.5 billion won.

Kim Kun-ho, an official with the Citizens Coalition for Economic Justice, a civic advocacy group, said: "If the amount for the budget, which doesn't require explanations to people, increases, so does the public's mistrust. The government and the National Assembly need to be more open about where these funds are spent."