DAPA Fails to End Corruption... Every Measure Falls Short [Yang Nakgyu's Defence Club]

DAPA Revises Proposal Evaluation Procedures
"Recent Bribery Incident Deemed Individual Misconduct"

Yonhap News

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has announced measures in response to bribery scandals involving rank-and-file employees, but whether these efforts will completely eradicate corruption remains uncertain. The issue persists despite DAPA having been established more than a decade ago, in 2006, with repeated cases of corruption involving its staff and defense acquisition brokers continually emerging.

On August 18, DAPA Administrator Lee Yong-chul met with reporters and stated, "I am deeply sorry that another regrettable incident has occurred, 11 years after the bribery case involving a lower-level employee in 2015." He added, "Though this did not happen during my tenure, I still feel a sense of responsibility as the agency head."

Using this incident as a turning point, DAPA has decided to revise its proposal evaluation procedures. Previously, a group of candidates for the evaluation committee was formed from employees who volunteered for the role. However, starting this year, the candidate pool will be determined regardless of whether employees express interest. Five times the required number of candidates will be randomly selected, and then the administrator will randomly select evaluation committee members and alternates from that group. Unless there are unavoidable circumstances such as business trips or sick leave, selected employees must participate in the evaluation.

In July, regulations were also revised so that the highest and lowest scores given by evaluators would be excluded, thereby preventing the most biased scoring by a specific evaluator from influencing the overall result.

When asked whether the LIG case stemmed from structural issues within DAPA, Administrator Lee responded, "Based on the current course of the investigation, only one employee has been detained, with no evidence implicating any other staff. It is therefore reasonable to view this as individual misconduct." However, he also emphasized, "Just because it was individual misconduct does not mean DAPA bears less responsibility."

Despite repeated attempts to prevent corruption among its employees, DAPA has had little effect. In 2014, DAPA attempted to make it mandatory for those in charge of defense procurement to sign a 'pledge of integrity.' Currently, however, only DAPA officials and employees of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality are required to sign such pledges.

The following year, then-Administrator Jang Myung-jin outlined policies to block internal corruption through personnel reform and to eliminate external corruption by establishing a monitoring system using advanced technology. One prominent example was requiring arms brokers to submit a 'pledge of integrity.' If they violated this pledge, not only the brokers but also defense companies contracting with them would face penalties.

By holding defense firms collectively accountable, the aim was to prevent corrupt arms brokers from gaining a foothold. Administrator Jang also sought cooperation from the National Tax Service, Korea Customs Service, National Police Agency, and others, pursuing a system that would use 'big data' techniques to identify corrupt personnel or companies. At the same time, under the Park Geun-hye administration, the government launched a joint investigation team for defense acquisition corruption in a task force format. However, many critics pointed out that the investigations were focused only on "outputs" and failed to address root causes.

At the time, the Defense Acquisition Unit at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office arrested a retired Army brigadier general on charges of accepting tens of millions of won during his service in exchange for selecting certain suppliers. In another case, an audit found that the military selected a company possessing no disposal technology for a rocket disposal project awarded to the private sector, and set contract prices and volumes more than KRW 50 billion higher than necessary. In November 2014, the prosecution, while investigating the contractor change process for the KF-16 fighter jet performance upgrade project, uncovered that a significant amount of military secrets had been leaked to foreign defense contractors and conducted a surprise search-and-seizure of DAPA.

A government official commented, "Defense corruption goes beyond personal profit. It directly impacts national security and therefore must be severely punished as an act of treason." The official added, "If the equipment or parts supplied to the military do not perform properly, it can undermine combat capability in an emergency or endanger the lives of soldiers operating them."

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