Lee Junseok Spots Signs of 560 Billion Won in Taxpayer Waste on KONEPS... Launches AI Contest

AI analyzes all KONEPS delivery contracts
Reform Party to hold "KONEPS Hackathon" through October 25
"We'll work with the public to close channels through which taxpayer money is leaking"

Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze public contract data from the Public Procurement Service's KONEPS, uncovering signs of 562.8 billion won in wasteful spending of taxpayer money. In response, the Reform Party plans to hold a nationwide contest inviting the public to use AI and public data to identify contracts that waste taxpayer money.

Lee's office said on the 8th that it had examined all 1.05 million items and 2.8 million delivery requests listed on KONEPS using AI tools and a self-developed data collection and analysis program. The investigation uncovered signs of improper and overpriced contracts worth 562.8 billion won. The public contracts analyzed totaled approximately 130 trillion won.

Lee's office said the investigation identified cases in which goods were purchased at prices several times to dozens of times higher than market prices; software contracts that used previously high unit prices even after market prices had fallen; and contracts suspected of having specifications or bidding conditions designed to favor certain companies.

In response, the Reform Party will hold the "50 Trillion Won Tax Waste Hunt: KONEPS Contest" from October 12 to 25. Participants can use original public contract data and APIs to identify contracts priced excessively high compared with market prices and submit their findings.

The Reform Party plans to distribute a total of 10 million won in prize money among participants based on the proportion of valid findings they uncover. The party will select outstanding cases, which Lee will raise with the government during the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee's parliamentary audit.

"While the public looks for the lowest prices to save even 100 won, the government has been using taxpayers' money to pay inflated prices that could have been weeded out with a single search," Lee said. "We did not obtain confidential materials; we simply analyzed the KONEPS data released by the government, all the way through."

He added, "The problem is not that the national treasury is empty, but that the back door has been left open. Together with the public, we will find and fix the channels through which taxpayers' money is leaking."

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