South Korea's state auditor found that the Korea Meteorological Administration allowed 177 weather observation devices that had failed certification tests to remain in operation without being retested. The agency's Seoul metropolitan office also caused 83.7 million won ($58,000) in losses to the state by misdirecting a subcontractor payment during construction of a new office building.
The Board of Audit and Inspection released the findings on the 19th as part of a regular audit of the weather agency. The audit found that as of October last year, key information on 7,402 of the 21,533 weather observation devices operated by 232 observation agencies nationwide, or 34.4%, had not been registered in the Observation Metadata System. Of particular concern, 177 devices that failed certification tests continued to operate without retesting, and the weather agency took no action.
Many devices with expired certification periods were also left unattended. Of 8,936 observation devices under the jurisdiction of related agencies, 343 had passed their certification expiry dates, and 325 of those, or 94.8%, were used for weather observation without retesting. On-site inspections found some devices had exceeded their certification periods by as much as 1,599 days.
"There is a risk that inaccurate observation data will be used in weather forecasts, undermining the reliability of forecasting," the audit board said, calling on the weather agency to strengthen oversight of observation equipment and establish retesting procedures.
The audit also exposed poor management of construction payments at the Seoul metropolitan weather office. During construction of a new office building, the office mistakenly paid 83.7 million won to the prime contractor, money that was supposed to go directly to a subcontractor. The official responsible transferred the payment despite knowing that the prime contractor's account had been seized.
The office later lost a lawsuit filed by the subcontractor and paid the same amount again. It was unable to recover the misdirected payment because of the prime contractor's deteriorating finances, leaving the state with a loss of 83.7 million won.
The audit board ruled that the official who handled the payment and the division head are liable for 58.59 million won and 25.11 million won, respectively.