The Democratic Party of Korea is launching an intensive reform effort targeting NongHyup, the national agricultural cooperative, after auditors uncovered approximately 100 cases of corruption including hiring irregularities and budget misuse.
The party announced the initiative at a policy coordination meeting held Wednesday to develop reform measures for the agricultural cooperative.
Han Jung-ae, chair of the party's Policy Committee, stated that a special audit of NongHyup revealed 100 violations including preferential loans, illegal budget execution, and favoritism in personnel decisions.
"Among the findings were allegations that the NongHyup chairman provided gifts to executives and employees who helped with his election," Han said.
"The discovery of over 100 audit violations indicates that corruption is rampant within the NongHyup organization while internal control mechanisms have failed to function properly," Han added. "We will work with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to prepare reform measures to enhance transparency."
Rep. Yoon Jun-byeong, a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, said farmers and cooperative members must be deeply disappointed by the internal corruption and opaque personnel practices revealed in the joint audit.
"We have respected NongHyup's status as an autonomous organization as much as possible, but we can no longer leave it to self-governance," Yoon said.
"The Ministry of Agriculture has developed reform tasks based on the audit findings," he added. "We will continue to push for innovation to ensure proper implementation and improvement."
Minister of Agriculture Song Mi-ryeong said the ministry is preparing reform measures including the establishment of a new audit organization within NongHyup.
"We will develop improvement plans to transform NongHyup into a productive cooperative," Song said.