It was found that the special operation expenses allocated as reserve funds in the first half of this year to five special counsel teams amounted to 3.3 billion won. That is more than the special operation expenses allocated to the prosecution for the entire year (3.15 billion won). In terms of special operation expenses per person, the special counsel teams can be seen as having secured 20 times that of the prosecution.
◇ Special counsel, 3.05 million won per person in special operation expenses… prosecution, 150,000 won
According to the "second-quarter reserve fund usage plan statement" and other documents submitted by the government to the office of Kim Tae-gyu of the People Power Party, a Commissioner on the Special Committee on Budget & Accounts, on the 24th, a total of 3,286.63 million won in special operation expenses for five special counsel teams in the first half of this year was allocated from reserve funds.
A simple comparison of per-capita special operation expenses for the first half shows that the special counsel teams are at more than 20 times the prosecution's level. Based on the five special counsel teams' statutory maximum headcount of 1,078, the first-half special operation expenses amount to about 3.05 million won per person. Assuming the prosecution executes half of its annual special operation expenses in each half and dividing by the total authorized headcount of 10,706, the figure is about 147,000 won. This calculation shows the special counsel teams' per-capita special operation expenses are 20.7 times those of the prosecution.
A prosecutor working in the field said, "It is hard to accept that the special counsel teams' special operation expenses exceed the amount that prosecutors nationwide use in a year for investigations into crimes harming people's livelihoods."
Special operation expenses are funds used for information gathering and case investigations that require confidentiality, and they are a nonpublic budget that does not require submission of documentation such as usage details or receipts at the time of execution. The prosecution has used special operation expenses for decoy transaction payments targeting drug dealers, as well as for membership fees for the dark web and illegal gambling sites.
◇ National Assembly slashed prosecution's special operation expenses by 60% but funneled reserve funds to special counsel teams
The fact that the source of these special counsel teams' special operation expenses is entirely reserve funds is being flagged as a problem. Reserve funds receive only an aggregate review by the National Assembly, and individual uses are executed with presidential approval without prior review. It can be seen as a structure lacking transparency. Members of the People Power Party on the Special Committee on Budget & Accounts plan to question, during the upcoming settlement of account review for fiscal 2025, why special counsels Cho Eun-suk, Min Joong-ki, and Lee Myung-hyun did not submit detailed usage records for special operation expenses executed with last year's reserve funds.
In contrast to the National Assembly cutting the prosecution's special operation expenses over transparency concerns, criticism is emerging over whether it was appropriate to allocate a large amount of special operation expenses to the special counsel teams through reserve funds. The prosecution's special operation expenses were cut by nearly 60% from the government's proposal during last year's budget review, led by the ruling party.
Kim Tae-gyu said, "Special counsel teams are also agencies that execute state budgets, so their obligation to undergo the National Assembly's settlement of account review is not fundamentally different from that of the ordinary prosecution," adding, "The more temporary a special counsel team is, the more necessary it is to ensure thorough post-verification of the propriety of budget execution after the project ends."
◇ 274.8 billion won in second-quarter reserve funds… for government compensation, constitutional complaint petitions, and the yellow envelope law
Meanwhile, reserve fund usage plans totaling 274.8 billion won were approved in the second quarter of this year. The Ministry of Justice's government compensation budget (245.7 billion won) made up most of it. The Constitutional Court, where the constitutional complaint petition system was introduced, also received 6,660.05 million won in reserve funds. In addition, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), whose workload expanded due to the impact of the "the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers" implemented in March, was allocated 4,158.58 million won.