Excessive desires and waste by local governments are seen to be increasing daily. Following the International Tourism Exposition held by Kangwon province in Sokcho, Hannam hosted an International Environment Fair. These events were unable to attract maximum attendance as the content of each was so poor, especially so in Hannam, where attendance was so low that the local authority coerced students and government employees to attend. It is difficult to understand why a huge budget was given to the two cities from central funds.

In spite of this miserable situation, many local governments are competing to host international events. One requested funds from the national administration to hold a flower exhibition on a remote island, despite the fact it would be difficult for Koreans, let alone foreigners to visit it. Local administrations are hosting such international events in order to get new roads and facilities built.

Cities and provinces, with no ability to host international events, are also competing with each other to build ten soccer stadia for the 2002 World Cup finals, even though six will be enough, disregarding their budgets. Officials of the Korean Football Association (KFA) revealed that at least two, and maybe three stadia, are unnecessary, but were unable to do anything about it.

In addition many exhibition centers are under construction with one province being given W16 billion in assistance. The governor of the province said that he knew it was unnecessary to build a new hall, but he had to bow to public pressure for one. This is a minor case of budgetary waste as the biggest problem of the financial operations of local government is the construction of subways and ring roads without sufficient logistical study. Some cities are building underground railways that exceed the demand of its population, and even smaller cities are considering this. They have no money and so take out loans to supplement central funding. As a result debts are aggregating daily.

At the end of June the total debts of local governments reached W17 trillion, W610 billion due for repayment this year. Kyonggi, Kyongbuk and Kyongnam provinces and the cities of Seoul, Pusan, Taegu and Inchon owe between W1.8 trillion to W2.7 trillion individually. Ane elected head of one local government confessed; "In several years, some local governments are likely to go bankrupt. Now is the time to acknowledge the budget waste and poorly managed loans. I was elected to my position, but I think that the regional autonomy system was introduced too early as people voted for whoever promised the most and then wen went ahead with unreasonable projects."

Since the introduction of local autonomy, land and the environment have been more severely damaged with apartment blocks being built in rice paddies and restaurants and hotels constructed unchecked by riversides. Eateries are on the increase in all areas with no unique development. There should be a function within central government to supervise and check this, and it is urgent to introduce management technology into the administration to do this.

(October 14, 1999)