Koreans to audit what?

I found this news at GI Korea Blog today:

Korea named deputy for tsunami fund audit (JoongAng Ilbo, Jan 18 2006)

BTW If the reader has not ever tried UN OCHA(Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)'s financial tracking service, I recommend you to visit the link and try

Donor: Korea, Republic of
Country / Emergency: INDIAN OCEAN - Earthquake / Tsunami

You'll get $6,100,000 in total, whereas if you sum up "paid contribution" only, you get $2,950,000. Here I pasted the bulk HTML code of the tables as follows, since the result page has no parmalink:

Description	Donor Country	Status	Amount in USD
(Region) Balance of uncommitted pledge (originally USD 5 million) to various projects in Tsunami Flash Appeal	Korea, Republic of	Pledge	$3,000,000
(Region) Awaiting allocation to specific country and sector	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$1,000,000
(Region) Special Operation for WFP Air Support of Humanitarian Relief Operations in Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Region) Humanitarian assistance to tsunami-affected population	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Indonesia) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Sri Lanka) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$198,000
(Sri Lanka) Medical and psychosocial community support to the displaced populations	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$170,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$132,000
(Thailand) Cash for emergency assistance (part of $600,000 regional pledge)	Korea, Republic of	Commitment	$100,000
(Maldives) Cash for emergency assistance (part of $600,000 pledge)	Korea, Republic of	Commitment	$50,000
(Malaysia) Cash for emergency assistance (part of U$600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$50,000
(Sri Lanka) Dispatch of 5.2 tonnes medicines by military air transport	Korea, Republic of	Commitment	$0
(Sri Lanka) Dispatch of 'Korean Disaster Relief Medical Team' (36 personnel*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0
(Thailand) Dispatch of '119' rescue team*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0
		TOTAL :	$6,100,000

Description	Donor Country	Status	Amount in USD
(Region) Awaiting allocation to specific country and sector	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$1,000,000
(Region) Special Operation for WFP Air Support of Humanitarian Relief Operations in Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Region) Humanitarian assistance to tsunami-affected population	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Sri Lanka) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Indonesia) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$198,000
(Sri Lanka) Medical and psychosocial community support to the displaced populations	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$170,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$132,000
(Malaysia) Cash for emergency assistance (part of U$600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$50,000
(Thailand) Dispatch of '119' rescue team*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0
(Sri Lanka) Dispatch of 'Korean Disaster Relief Medical Team' (36 personnel*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0
		TOTAL :	$2,950,000

Chosun Ilbo's editorial on Dec 27 2004 says:

Our government earned itself international kudos by deciding yesterday to send US$600,000 (W628.6 million) in relief funds and assistance.

If this is not a typo, Korean government apparently ended up in pledging to pay over 10 times as much as they had originally expected (and actually paying under half of it, as shown above); it might make you kinda confused if you know that the same newspaper says, in its Japanese edition, that Korean government is considering to increase its Tsunami aid up to over 50 million US$.

Tags: Korea tsunami UN United Nations