Bum Nam Yang: "Compulsory Collection of Misused Political Subsidies from Parties"

Amendment to the Political Funds Act Proposed
Stronger Measures for Compulsory Recovery of Misused Subsidies
Enhancing Accountability and Transparency in Political Fund Management

Bum Nam Yang, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Bum Nam Yang, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), announced on the 20th that he has sponsored a proposed amendment to the Political Funds Act. The amendment would allow for the compulsory collection of political subsidies from parties that have been excluded from receiving subsidies due to misuse of political funds but have failed to return the recovered amounts.

The purpose of the amendment is to strengthen accountability for the improper use of subsidies paid with taxpayer money and to enhance the effectiveness of recovery efforts. Under the current Political Funds Act, the National Election Commission may recover twice the amount misused by a party or deduct it from future subsidies to be paid to that party.

However, if a party that has misused subsidies is excluded from the list of eligible recipients, there is insufficient legal basis for recovery, making actual collection difficult. The same problem arises when a party is dissolved or its registration is canceled and it fails to fulfill its obligation to return the subsidies.

Accordingly, the amendment provides a legal basis for the National Election Commission to delegate collection to the head of the relevant tax office if recovery of the subsidies is not possible, enabling compulsory collection through the national tax delinquency disposition procedures. The supplementary provision also specifies retroactive application to cases of improper use prior to the enactment of the law, further enhancing its effectiveness.

Yang stated, "Since political parties are public institutions operated with taxpayers' money, I will do my utmost to ensure the passage of this bill so that transparency and accountability in the use of political funds can be strengthened."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.