A total of $110 Million USD Reimbursed in 19th Presidential Election Expenses

= $112.3 million USD worth of expense claims made, reduced by $2.3 million USD after inspections made =

The National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea paid a total of 124 billion won ($110 million USD) to parties that participated in the 19th presidential election on July 18, including 122.5 billion won ($108.5 million USD) in election expenses and 1.56 billion won ($1.5 million USD) in expenses to be borne by the state.

The 122.5 billion won ($108.5 million USD) in election expenses was returned to three political parties, the Minjoo Party of Korea, the Liberty Korea Party, and the People''s Party, which was 97.8% of the total of 125.14 billion won ($113 million USD) the parties applied to receive. 

The NEC organized an audit team to inspect campaign expenses made up of 23 people in six groups and they thoroughly inspected the validity of claims through examination of written documents and local-level inspection for 50 days. 

As a result, 2.6 billion Korean Won ($2.3 million USD) of claims were rejected including 990 million Korean won ($878,000 USD) worth of claims made by the Minjoo Party of Korea, 1.1 billion Korean won ($980,000 USD) worth of claims by the Liberty Korea Party and 500 million Korean won ($445,000 USD) worth of claims by the People’s Party.  

The main reasons for the rejection of claims were: ▲ 1.32 billion Korean won ($1.15 million USD) where the claim was made in excess of the normal transaction price ▲ 310 million Korean won ($310,000 USD) worth of political expenses other than campaign expenses or expenses related to preliminary candidates ▲ 90 million Korean won ($80,000 USD) worth of claims that were related to the overpayment of campaign staff allowances ▲ 900 million Korean won ($800,000 USD) for miscellaneous reasons (for example simple omission, counting error, duplicate claim regarding Braille election bulletins).

In addition, according to Article 122.2.3 of the Public Official Election Act, the National Election Commission paid a total of 1.560 billion won to eight political parties regardless of the percentage of votes they received for covering nationwide campaign costs including preparing and dispatching Braille election bulletins.

Anyone can view the details of the income and expenditure of campaign funds submitted by political parties and candidates participating in the 19th presidential election and the attached documents publically until September 26 or may apply for a copy. You can also view the information on the NEC homepage (http://info.nec.go.kr).  

The National Election Commission (NEC) announced that it would request the return of reimbursed funds and take strict measures against actors involved with those claims even after they have been distributed if it is found the costs were part of any illegal acts or should not have been reimbursed, for example claims made through false reports. ​