12 South Jeolla localities left national gift-voucher funds unspent, data show
In short
Twelve of the 22 cities and counties in South Jeolla Province did not spend all of the national funds they received last year to issue local gift certificates, including five counties that have left funds unspent for three years running, according to data disclosed by Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jung-hyun. Nationally, 86 of 190 local governments did not use all their allocated funds by the end of last year, and 30 left funds for three consecutive years. Park said unspent funds alone do not show the policy has had no effect, and called for support to be matched to local demand.
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Twelve of the 22 cities and counties in South Jeolla Province did not spend all of the national funds they received last year to issue local gift certificates, a regional voucher scheme, according to data released on 5 October. Yonhap reported that the 12 were Mokpo, Naju, Gokseong, Boseong, Gangjin, Haenam, Hampyeong, Yeonggwang, Jangseong, Wando, Jindo and Sinan. Newsis also reported the failure of 12 South Jeolla cities and counties to exhaust the national funding. [ 1 , 2 ]
Of those, the counties of Gokseong, Hampyeong, Jangseong, Jindo and Sinan failed to spend all of their national funding for three consecutive years from 2023 through last year, the data showed. In Gwangju, the city hall that existed before a merger was also among the institutions with unspent funds and left national money for three consecutive years, according to Yonhap. [ 2 ]
Nationally, 86 of the 190 local governments that received national funds did not spend all of them by the end of last year, and 30 left funds for three consecutive years, the data showed. [ 2 ]
Park Jung-hyun, a Democratic Party lawmaker on the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee who disclosed the data, said that fund execution and voucher use are influenced by population and economic size, the timing of fund transfers and the length of projects, so unspent funds alone do not mean the policy has no effect. Park said there should be no case in which issuance shrinks or support stops because funds are short when demand exists, adding that areas with demand should receive as much support as they need while the scale of support for areas with weak demand should be adjusted. [ 2 ]
Why it matters
The vouchers are funded with central government money and issued by local authorities, so the figures point to a gap between where funds are allocated and where they are actually spent by year-end. A lawmaker's call to scale support to demand signals that the distribution of the programme may be questioned in parliament. The documents do not quantify the unspent sums or indicate any decision to change the scheme.
Key facts
- Twelve of the 22 cities and counties in South Jeolla Province did not spend all of the national funds they received last year for issuing local gift certificates. [ 1 , 2 ]
- The 12 are Mokpo, Naju, Gokseong, Boseong, Gangjin, Haenam, Hampyeong, Yeonggwang, Jangseong, Wando, Jindo and Sinan, according to data released by lawmaker Park Jung-hyun. [ 2 ]
- Gokseong, Hampyeong, Jangseong, Jindo and Sinan failed to spend all their national funding for three consecutive years from 2023 through last year. [ 2 ]
- Nationally, 86 of 190 local governments that received the national funds did not spend all of them by the end of last year, and 30 left funds for three consecutive years. [ 2 ]
- Park said population and economic size, the timing of fund transfers and project periods affect spending, so unspent funds alone do not mean the policy has no effect. [ 2 ]
- Park said issuance should not be cut or support stopped where demand exists but funding is short, and that support should be adjusted to demand. [ 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Twelve of South Jeolla Province's 22 cities and counties did not use all of the national funds allocated to them last year for local gift certificates. [ 1 , 2 ]
- The figures come from national fund execution data disclosed on 5 October by Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jung-hyun of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee. [ 2 ]
- Nationwide, 86 of 190 local governments that received the funds did not spend all of them by year-end, and 30 did not spend all of them for three consecutive years. [ 2 ]
Still unclear
- The amount of national funding left unspent by each locality, and the total value involved, are not stated in the documents. Neither document reports the sums, so the scale of the shortfall cannot be judged.
- Yonhap reports that Gwangju's city hall before a merger was among the institutions that left national funds unspent for three consecutive years. The documents do not identify the merger or explain the reference, so the point is a single, unexplained mention.
- Whether the unspent funds were carried over, returned or reallocated is not stated. Neither document addresses what happened to the money.