[사설]President’s advisory committees that gave ‘expensive pay’ to former government officials

Yesterday, the Board of Audit and Inspection announced the results of the audit of the three Blue House agencies, including the Presidential Secretary, the Office of Homeland Security and the Presidential Security Service, and four Presidential Advisory Committees. The audit of the Presidential Advisory Committee was carried out for the first time, and among the 19 committees, four relatively large committees with annual budgets of more than 3 billion won were selected.

As a result of the audit, it was discovered that the Chairman of the National Committee for Balanced Development, the Vice Chairman of the Employment Committee and the Chairman of the Economic and Social Labor Committee received a fixed monthly salary without a clear pay standard. Song Jae-ho, who was appointed chairman of the National Committee for Balanced Development while serving on the advisory body of the Moon Jae-in presidential camp, and the 4 million member of the Democratic National Assembly earned a total of 52 million won per month. During this period, a total of 217.59 million won was paid as a fixed salary. Former Vice Chair of the Employment Committee Lee Mok-hee also received a total of 144.99 million won over a year and 11 months.

According to current legislation, non-executives are obliged to reward each activity according to established criteria, only when clearly providing separate services such as data collection or field research, in addition to attending meetings. However, because he was actually working full time without a clear pay standard, he nailed the reward as a flat fee and gave it as a salary.

The office of president is publicized as if it were a non-governmental movement to contribute to the creation of the government, and after assuming the presidency, not much is contributed, but the expeditious method of paying public taxes for attending should not be allowed. in charge. The remaining 15 presidential advisory committees that were not subject to this audit should also check to see if the same issues are occurring. The Audit and Inspection Board has also revealed violations of the National Contract Law in the process of supplying commemorative images of Children’s Day to the Presidential Secretariat. This audit of the Board of Audit and Inspection has been assessed to show a different appearance than the Board of Audit and Inspection, which has been merely a formal audit for the energy agencies. The Blue House audit, which was revived after 15 years in 2018, was the second time the Moon Jae-in administration has, and this is the first time it has audited the controversial Presidential Advisory Committee, running since the necessity of the existence until the suitability of the operation. In a situation where internal control over the power of the president is weak, the audit of the Blue House and the Committee of the Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection should be more rigorous, abstractly, and firmly established to be You can assume, no matter what regime you enter, who is the head of the audit.