Supreme Court justices' bonuses lack legal basis, minister says

Budget fully reflects 1.19 million housing supply target

Ministry of Planning and Budget Minister Park Hong-keun said Thursday that the government would draw on other funding sources — not the future response fund — to finance holiday discount support for agricultural, livestock and fishery products.

Park made the remarks at a national audit of the Ministry of Planning and Budget by the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee, when People Power Party lawmaker Bae Jun-young asked whether the future response fund could be used to cover holiday discount support spending.

Ministry of Planning and Budget Minister Park Hong-keun responds to questions from People Power Party Policy Committee Chairwoman Lim Yi-ja, who criticized the government's planned future response fund, during a national audit at the National Assembly on Thursday. [Yonhap]
Ministry of Planning and Budget Minister Park Hong-keun responds to questions from People Power Party Policy Committee Chairwoman Lim Yi-ja, who criticized the government's planned future response fund, during a national audit at the National Assembly on Thursday. [Yonhap]

The issue arose after President Lee Jae Myung proposed at a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 29 allocating close to 1 trillion won ($747 million) for holiday discount support on agricultural, livestock and fishery products, and suggested exploring whether the future response fund could serve as a funding source.

Park said he understood the president's remarks as a general comment made without detailed knowledge of the specific projects and line items covered by the future response fund. He added that holiday-related spending had already been budgeted for this year through various means, including changes to fund operations.

When Bae pressed him to confirm that next year's future response fund would not be used for holiday support spending, Park said the fund's purpose was well understood and that such spending "does not fall under" its eligible uses.

Park also said the budget for Supreme Court justices' bonuses — flagged as improperly disbursed in a Board of Audit and Inspection review — would be reconsidered during the National Assembly's budget deliberations.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Nam-geun raised the issue, noting that an audit of the Supreme Court released last month found that bonuses had been paid to justices without a legal basis, yet the related budget for next year had been increased by 300 million won over this year's level.

Park said the bonuses amounted to an average of 2 million won per month paid regularly to judges, and that the audit findings had been released after the draft budget had already been finalized at the working level. He added that the Supreme Court had increased the budget by 300 million won on its own initiative.

"We also view this as improper disbursement, since bonuses without a statutory basis were paid on a regular schedule," Park said. "We will ensure the matter is reviewed and adjusted to an appropriate level during the National Assembly's budget deliberation process, taking into account the findings of the Board of Audit and Inspection and the Assembly."

Park said the budget for expanding housing supply had been secured at the level needed to meet the government's targets.

Responding to Democratic Party lawmaker Oh Ki-hyung's question about whether the housing supply budget was adequate, Park said all necessary funding had been reflected to achieve the target of 1.19 million units under the recently announced residential stability measures. He added that if the budget proved insufficient, the government had previously indicated it would consider additional support using this year's surplus tax revenue.


y2k@heraldcorp.com