Government officials withdrew from the Office for Economic Cooperation
and Consultations
MOU s Efforts to Enhance the Transparency of Inter-Korean Cooperation Funds
The Board of Audit and Inspection carried out an inspection of civic groups government-funded aid projects toward North Korea from December 10 to December 28 in 2007 and notified the Ministry of Unification (MOU) of its inspection results.
MOU is pushing ahead with the improvement in overall management system of inter-Korean cooperation funds, reflecting the opinion that the funds have not been used in a transparent way.
Improving the transparency of inter-Korean cooperation funds is now being pursued as one of the 100-day national agendas of the new administration.
Detailed plans for the enhancement in transparency of inter-Korean cooperation funds are as follows.
Deliberation will be reinforced in the decision-making process of funds allocation
• A working group consisting of related government agencies and experts will be formed and the direction of Inter-Korean cooperation funds allocation and ways to enhance transparency in execution of funds will be established.
• The number of civilian members of the Inter-Korean Exchanges & Cooperation Promotion Committee will increase from 4 to 5. The deliberation process will be enhanced by organizing and operating an Inter-Korean Exchanges & Cooperation Promotion Working-level Committee.
Management and supervision over execution of the funds will be strengthened and external audit and evaluation system will be introduced.
• Purchasing system through Public Procurement Service will be introduced to groups providing aid funds and education programs will be carried out to those groups
• Regular inspection system will be introduced. Feedback will be institutionally reflected by forming and running an evaluation committee composed of outside experts.
• Revision of inter-Korean cooperation funds law will be promoted to establish the legal foundation to restrict spending the fund money for purposes other than those for which the fund was intended. Revisions will include subdividing the purposes of funds; and making the submission of funds disbursement plans and reports on the results of fund execution mandatory.
Public disclosure will be expanded by, for example, releasing a white paper on inter-Korean cooperation funds.
• Merits and demerits of funds management will be evaluated and public understanding will be enhanced through publication of white paper
• Disbursement of funds and monthly details of execution will be posted on the website of MOU and the Export-Import Bank of Korea
MOU will reflect the latest inspection results of the Board of Audit and Inspection in its plans to enhance the transparency of funds.
Spokesperson
of MOU
