Illustration | Kim Sang-min

Lawmakers spending of political funds on YouTube or video production last year rose sharply compared with 2023. Fees for artificial intelligence (AI) tools also began to appear in political fund expenditures for the first time, while subscription fees for traditional media such as newspapers fell by nearly half.

According to materials analyzed jointly by the Kyunghyang Shinmun Data Journalism Team, Newstapa, and OhmyNews on the 2024 political fund expenditures of National Assembly members and released on the 26th, spending on YouTube and video production rose 43.5%, from 2.09 million won per lawmaker in 2023 to 3.00 million won in 2024. Total outlays increased 126%, from 285.4 million won in 2023 to 646.02 million won in 2024. Even taking into account that both the 21st and 22nd National Assembly members were tallied simultaneously in the first half of 2024 and that there was a general election, the increase was substantial. (Hereafter, the thousand-won unit is omitted unless otherwise indicated.)

Major expenditures included producing policy-promotion videos, purchasing equipment such as cameras, renting YouTube studios, and paying for video editing software. Jo Jung-hoon of the People Power Party spent 15.05 million won last year on video work, including labor costs for producing legislative and policy promotion videos and venue rental. Former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk spent 13.42 million won on YouTube studio-related costs.

There were no political fund expenditures related to the use of AI tools in 2023, but last year lawmakers began, for the first time, to report political fund spending on AI. Rep. Park Ji-hye of the Democratic Party of Korea spent 460,000 won, and 15 offices together spent 2.73 million won. Most of it was for the usage fee of the conversational AI service ChatGPT, and some offices also used a service that summarizes YouTube videos and the like, Rilis AI.

Spending on subscriptions to traditional media, namely newspapers, showed a steep decline. Average monthly newspaper subscription spending per lawmaker fell 51.7%, from 95,125 won in 2023 to 45,975 won last year. The number of subscriptions also decreased, from 1,389 copies of 189 titles as of December 2012, a little over a decade ago, to 692 copies of 139 titles as of December last year.

During the 12·3 illegal martial law last year and the response process, lawmakers who played key roles drew close scrutiny for their every move. To see how often lawmakers gathered to assess the martial law situation and discuss response strategy, records were extracted for meeting meal expenses, presumed to be meals with fellow lawmakers or external contacts, from December 4 to 31 last year. By total amount spent, Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party topped the list at 3.44 million won. Under the heading ‘Lawmakers meeting related to legislative activity’, Na spent 503,000 won on December 26 at the Yeouido restaurant ‘Sodosusa’, held 12 meals, and spent an average of about 280,000 won per meal.

By number of meetings, Kim Min-seok (now Prime Minister) and Choo Mi-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea had 19 each, the most. On December 13, Kim spent 334,000 won at the Yeouido restaurant ‘Yeontabal’ for ‘Lawmaker meeting after the Democratic Party announced its position regarding the press conference of the ringleader of insurrection, Yoon’, averaging about 100,000 won per meeting. Under the heading ‘Meeting’, Choo spent 266,000 won on December 9 at the Yeouido restaurant ‘Guigui’, averaging about 130,000 won per meeting.

Seo Beom-su of the People Power Party spent 682,000 won on December 19 at the Yeouido restaurant ‘Yeontabal’ under the heading ‘Dangsanggwang (situation) related countermeasures meeting (8 lawmakers)’, the highest single-meeting outlay. Kwon Young-se of the People Power Party drew attention for spending 325,000 won and 580,000 won on December 15 and 18, respectively, at the Itaewon-dong restaurant ‘Bistecca’, which at the time was near the Yongsan presidential office, under the heading ‘Parliamentary activity meal expense - discussion of political pending issues’. The reported number of attendees was six and eight, respectively.

Lawmakers also use political funds for a variety of donations. Among those related to former presidents, donations connected to former President Kim Dae-jung totaled 19.04 million won, the most. Most of it went to the Kim Dae-jung Memorial Association, including a 5 million won donation by former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Jeon Hae-cheol. As the only member from the People Power Party, former lawmaker Cho Su-jin also donated 1 million won to the Kim Dae-jung Memorial Association just before her term expired.

Donations related to former President Roh Moo-hyun totaled 17.05 million won, buoyed by 5 million won each from former Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers Jeon Hae-cheol and Kim Nam-kuk just before their terms ended. Aside from Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Jun-hyeok spending 6.05 million won for ‘Mother’s Day and Roh Moo-hyun memorial banners and funeral flags’, most of the rest were small expenditures of 20,000 to 50,000 won.

Spending related to former President Syngman Rhee also amounted to a sizable 8.60 million won. Seven People Power Party lawmakers made donations to the Syngman Rhee Presidential Memorial Foundation and the Memorial Association, including a 3 million won donation by Yoon Han-hong to the Syngman Rhee Memorial Association. Koo Ja-geun of the People Power Party spent 400,000 won for ‘announcer booking for the Park Chung-hee photo exhibition’, and Jeong Hee-yong of the People Power Party spent 100,000 won for a ‘wreath basket for the memorial service for the late President Park Chung-hee’.

A tally of donations among politicians showed former Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong received the most, at 11 million won. This was the amount raised when he ran in last year’s party leadership election. Koo Ja-geun of the People Power Party donated 5 million won to Won, and Kang Seung-gyu and Song Eon-seok of the People Power Party donated 3 million won each.

Some lawmakers also used political funds for hair care or self-improvement. Kim Yong-tae of the People Power Party spent a total of 2.17 million won across 83 visits last year under the heading ‘hair dry’ at two salons in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul. Lee Joo-young of the Reform Party spent 4.01 million won across 22 visits last year for hair and makeup at salons in Yeouido and Sincheon-dong, Seoul. Min Byung-deok of the Democratic Party of Korea spent 300,000 won on December 23 last year for a ‘voice coaching lesson fee’.