President Lee Myung-bak in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday agreed to establish a presidential committee to manage Korea's intellectual property rights. But rather than conjuring up hopes of more efficient government of Korean rights on books, music, games, brands and other products, the public appears to be wondering why yet another presidential committee has been created on top of the already vast number of such bodies reporting directly to the chief executive.

Right at the start of the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Presidential Council on National Competitiveness and Presidential Council for National Future and Vision were launched, followed in January last year by the Presidential Council on Nation Branding and the Presidential Committee on Green Growth. Last year, two more were set up -- one that seeks advice from elderly citizens and another tasked with achieving social cohesion.

The Lee administration had vowed to cut the number of government committees to 300 and boost efficiency, thereby trying to differentiate itself from the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which fostered no fewer than 573 committees that report either to the president or the central government. But as of the end of June, 431 government committees in operation -- down from 573, to be sure, but the presidential office and various government agencies have also created more than 60.

The government has set aside W58.2 billion (US$1=W1,184) to fund the 19 presidential committees. Committee members have met between two to 12 times on average per year and have similar organizational structures. Dozens of central government employees are on loan to the committees for administrative work, and 30 to 40 academics serve as advisors. That means civil servants may be getting paid for doing almost no work once those committees snap them up.

On top of that, there are already several other government agencies tasked to do the same work as many of the presidential committees, such as traffic law reforms pursued by the Presidential Council on National Competitiveness, industry-specific support programs pursued by the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, educational reforms sought by the Presidential Council for National Future and Vision and government PR by the Presidential Council on Nation Branding. These committees are usually headed by former Cheong Wa Dae officials or government ministers who had to hang up their hats after making some serious blunder, or by people who helped Lee win the presidency.

Looking at the number of presidential committees popping up left, right and center makes many people wonder whether there is any sense of direction or priority or any master plan in the Lee administration. Committees seem to be created every time the nation faces a new problem. The reams of reports written up by these committees are composed mostly of dubious plans that would surely be criticized as being a waste of taxpayers' money. Is there a single presidential committee whose closure would seriously damage Korea's future?