hankyoreh

The administration of President Lee Myung-bak is falling behind previous administrations in terms of disclosing government information to the general public.

According to a Hankyoreh investigation of 18 government Web sites, including the Blue House, on August 3, the sites were a full of information promoting the government, but essential information, such as its major policy agenda or details on how ministers and vice ministers are using their expense accounts was withheld.

Under the Information Disclosure Act, government agencies are required to disclose information, such as the expense accounts of ministers and vice ministers, that is essential to monitoring the administration; its key policies; and state projects that use a large amount of taxpayer money. The information is to be posted on government Web sites or through other means, even if there are no specific requests for the information from the general public. The law requires that government agencies inform the public about which information it will disclose, and when and how it will do so.

Three of the government agencies surveyed - the Blue House, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology - were found not to have disclosed the even the list of information to disclose. The Office of the Prime Minister posted the required list of the information to disclose on its Web site as late as July 31.

Only eight government agency Web sites, including the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy and the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, had details on which departments and information would be made public, without saying how often and when the information would be disclosed.

In particular, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology have not disclosed detailed information on the expense accounts of their ministers and vice ministers since the administration of President Lee was inaugurated in late February. In the previous administration, the information had been disclosed to the public once a month.

Some government agencies were accused of delaying their disclosure schedules or giving insufficient information. For instance, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, which had disclosed the details of the expenditures made by its minister and vice minister once a month during the previous administration, publicized the information only two times, in March and May, after President Lee took office.

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs was also late in disclosing the details of how its minister had used his expense account in the first and second quarters and did not release the information until July 29. After the information was posted, the ministry was criticized for insincere remarks about the information it had released. The ministry Web site says the minister spent a total of some 87 million won on six items, including “52 million won for work with related agencies.”

There are other signs that the administration is falling behind previous administrations when it comes to information disclosure. A government official, who asked not to be named, said, “Compared with the administration of former President Roh Moo-hyun, the percentage of cases in which agencies have withheld information has increased and the volume of written documents has been cut in half. Generally, there are about 40,000 documents written and registered a year. But between when the new administration was inaugurated and the end of July, there have been about 10,000 documents registered, though the volume should be higher because the government is in an early stage. There have been almost no instances of electronic document signing, which automatically registers documents as official.” Unregistered government documents are immune from the information disclosure act and could be removed at any time.

There is criticism that the administration has been making too many decisions without disclosing them and without complying with legal procedures. Jeon Jin-han, a senior researcher at the Research Institute for Korean Archives and Records, said, “With the incumbent administration inaugurated, it is apparent that there are a rampant number of irregularities because officials are making decisions to withhold them and without holding a committee to review whether the information should be disclosed or not.”

In response to the criticism, officials at the Ministry of Finance and Strategy and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said they could not “disclose information because of a delay in modifying their Web sites after the organizational reshuffle.” Several ministries were eliminated or merged after the Lee administration took office.

However, civic groups have protested, saying, “The administration apologized for not communicating with people during the candlelight demonstrations. Disclosing information is an important means of communicating with people, but the government’s excuse is pathetic because it has delayed in disclosing information while focusing on advertising itself for the five months after the administration was inaugurated.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]