![People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seog. [Provided by Rep. Song Eon-seog's office]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/09/26/news-p.v1.20260926.459096d07e624d50a40d1fab1dcce30d_P1.jpg)
The Industrial Bank of Korea and Korea Development Bank together spent 14.67 billion won ($10.8 million) acquiring golf club memberships, a lawmaker revealed Saturday.
According to documents submitted to People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seog of Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, the two state-run banks hold memberships at a combined 14 golf courses, with total acquisition costs reaching 14.67 billion won.
Neither bank, however, keeps separate records of who used the memberships or for what purpose, the documents showed.
The Industrial Bank of Korea holds memberships at 12 golf courses nationwide, with total acquisition costs of 8.79 billion won.
By course, the largest outlays were Korea Country Club at 1.63 billion won, Lakewood Country Club at 1.51 billion won, Adonis Country Club at 1.06 billion won and Rexfield Country Club at 1.01 billion won.
Last year, the bank also acquired an Ananti membership for 817 million won.
Korea Development Bank holds memberships at Blackstone Country Club and Crystal Valley Country Club.
Acquisition costs were 3.58 billion won and 2.3 billion won, respectively, for a combined total of 5.88 billion won.
Both banks allow employees to book the courses directly, and neither tracks who uses the memberships or for what purpose.
The Industrial Bank of Korea said the memberships are used "exclusively for business activities with customers," but did not submit records showing who used them, when or why.
Korea Development Bank said it does not separately track booking and usage records by employee.
Song's office conducted a comprehensive review of usage figures at each course through the banks, but some courses either do not maintain usage records or declined to provide data, making it impossible to determine the total number of rounds played.
The Industrial Bank of Korea confirmed 255 uses across nine golf courses from January through August this year.
The remaining three courses — Serenity, Ocean Hills and Seowon Valley — could not provide usage figures covering 2022 through August this year, either because records were not kept or data was not provided.
Korea Development Bank confirmed 10 uses at Blackstone Country Club from June through August this year, and 105 uses at Crystal Valley Country Club from October last year through August this year.
Because the confirmed periods differ between the two courses, total usage figures for January through August this year could not be determined.
"It is a serious management failure that state-run banks holding golf memberships worth billions of won cannot even identify who used them, when, or for what purpose," Song said. "They must establish a system to record and review everything from booking requests and approvals to usage logs, conduct a full review of whether each membership is still necessary, and sell off any that are excessive or unnecessary."
kbj7653@heraldcorp.com
