Gangwon Province Council Member Lee Eunhee: "Advertising and PR Budget Spending at 43.1%; Review Year-End Spending Surge"

KRW 2.154 billion of KRW 4.996 billion spent by September
Province: "Contracts covering 63% completed... Entire budget to be spent by year-end due to differences in payment timing"

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province’s execution rate for this year’s advertising and public relations budget stood at just 43.1% as of September, prompting concerns that spending might be concentrated at the end of the year. The province said payments under advertising contracts were not yet due, and that it could spend the entire remaining budget by year-end.

On November 4, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Council member Lee Eunhee reviewed the status of advertising and public relations budget spending during an administrative audit of the province’s Spokesperson’s Office, and called for timely spending in line with the annual public relations plan and an analysis of its effectiveness.

According to materials the Spokesperson’s Office submitted to Lee, this year’s budget for the “Enhancing the Provincial Image Through Various Media” project is KRW 4.996 billion. Of that amount, KRW 2.154 billion had been spent by the end of September, representing an execution rate of 43.1%. The project promotes the province’s key policies and initiatives and raises its public profile through various media, including newspapers, broadcasting and the internet.

The province said it had completed contracts covering 63% of the advertising budget as of the end of September, but that payment for some contracts was not yet due. It said it could spend the entire remaining budget by year-end.

To spend the budget as planned, the province must disburse KRW 2.842 billion, or 56.9% of the total budget, over the remaining three months of the year. That amounts to an average of approximately KRW 947 million per month, about four times the average monthly spending of approximately KRW 239 million over the previous nine months.

“We need to examine whether it is appropriate budget management to spend only 43.1% of the total budget over nine months and plan to spend the remaining 56.9% in the final three months,” Lee said.

She added, “There may be a gap between when advertising contracts are signed and when payments are made, but the fact that the entire budget can be spent by year-end does not, by itself, prove that the budget is being managed appropriately.”

“The provincial government’s advertising and public relations budget should not be spent simply to raise the execution rate; it should be used at the right time in accordance with the annual public relations plan,” she said. “A systematic management system should be established to carefully analyze the effectiveness of each medium and improve the efficiency and appropriateness of budget spending.”

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