Told to Host Templestays, but First Floor Houses Privately-Owned Cafe?

While visiting temples across the nation to see if templestay programs were operating properly, I saw many places under construction. Excavators were hauling earth, and workers were moving constantly. A source in the Buddhist community said, "After temples received government subsidies to build templestay accommodations and experience centers, they are now busy constructing yet another experience center." In short, "Building templestay structures is out of fashion; there are no more buildings left to build."

Contrary to voices from the field saying there are no more buildings to construct, the budget for templestay facility construction has exceeded 13 billion won every year for the past five years. Where on earth is all this money being spent? First, consider the templestay experience center at Jingwansa Temple, a famous temple that received significant national funding. Located near the entrance of the temple, the building—comprising two underground levels and three stories above ground—is the templestay experience center, receiving 1 billion won from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 1.5 billion won from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and 600 million won from Eunpyeong-gu. Although subsidies were received to host templestays, the first floor was actually being operated as a cafe.

An Americano cost 5,500 won. Looking at the receipt after paying, the business operator was Kim OO. The expectation that a corporate entity would be operating the business was wrong. "Who is this person running a profit-making business in a subsidized building?" I wondered. Searching for Kim OO revealed that the person was a former head monk of Jingwansa. In other words, an "individual," not the Jingwansa corporate entity or its official representative, was operating a cafe on the first floor of the templestay experience center. I visited the cafe more than five times for reporting, and every time, the first floor was packed with customers.

Under the law, subsidies are subject to clawback if used for purposes other than those for which they were granted. The subsidies provided to Jingwansa's templestay experience center should be no exception, so I set out to obtain records from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Seoul Metropolitan Government to check how it turned into a cafe. Usually, requesting cooperation from a lawmaker's office yields documents from ministries and government agencies, but this time was difficult. Mindful of votes from the religious community, lawmakers' offices refused, saying it was difficult to obtain audit materials related to religious groups. Ultimately, I filed an information disclosure request myself. Normally, a response arrives within ten days of the request, but Seoul City took more than two months. While the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism transparently disclosed all subsidy details within the deadline, Seoul City refused to disclose even approval documents related to the Jingwansa subsidies, citing "infringement on trade secrets of corporations and entities." Despite approval documents—excluding subsidy amounts—already being uploaded on Seoul City's Information Communication Plaza website, the city kept the subsidy amounts confidential. Furthermore, these subsidy details are fully disclosed on the Local Finance 365 website operated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Although I eventually received the documents through an objection filing, it raised questions as to why Seoul City went to such lengths to withhold details regarding Jingwansa.

In the business plan submitted by Jingwansa when Seoul City made its final decision to grant the subsidy, the first floor was designated as "exhibition room / traditional tea experience room / souvenir shop / information desk / office." Nowhere in the utilization plan was a cafe mentioned. I asked if there was no problem with the current situation being completely different from the plan submitted when receiving the grant.

Seoul City replied that because the final floor plan submitted when the grant was finalized designated the first floor as a "neighborhood living facility," it judged the change not to be major, adding that the proposal was merely a "draft" and thus subject to modification. Even though Seoul City's grant determination document specifies that "if one intends to modify the content of a finalized grant project, prior approval for project plan modification must be obtained from Seoul City," the business proceeded without approval for modification. This contrasts with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which imposed a condition when disbursing 1 billion won in national funds that the subsidy must be used exclusively for templestay purposes and prohibited using subsidies to build profit-making facilities. Seoul City even provided an additional 500 million won when Jingwansa failed to pay its own share of cost during COVID-19, and Eunpyeong-gu added another 600 million won. On top of that, an additional 500 million won of Seoul City's budget was spent building stone walls and erecting stele around the building, and the area inside these stone walls is currently being used as a "cafe-exclusive parking lot."

Seoul City stated that the purpose of supporting templestay had not changed, asking whether there would be no problem as long as the cafe profits were used for templestay operating costs. This echoed Jingwansa's explanation that there was no issue because cafe profits were being used for templestay operations. However, there is virtually no way to verify whether all profits are actually being used for templestay. When asked by the reporter whether profits were indeed being properly used for templestay, a Seoul City official evaded responsibility, saying, "You should request accounting documents from Jingwansa for that." Regarding this situation, Song Jin-ho, a research fellow at the Nara Governance Institute, said, "Subsidies were granted to Jingwansa, not to give an individual the right to run a cafe. Simply letting it slide under the claim that cafe profits are being used for templestay is not a legitimate procedure." Furthermore, Seoul City and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism even provide operating support funds for templestays every year. Yet, templestays for the general public are not even properly operated once a month.

Jingwansa is beyond administrative reach

This was a confession made by a Seoul City official met during the reporting process. It raises the question of whether such subsidies would have been granted had it not been a temple in the first place. Even after SBS's report, neither Seoul City nor the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has released an official statement on what measures they will take going forward. Usually, following a report highlighting problems, authorities release a statement saying they will assess the situation, but Seoul City did not even provide that.

*Related article:

Smelling of Mold Despite Tax Dollars... "Monk's Cafe" Takes Center Stage, 'Templestay' Sidelined (Full Video) [SBS 8 News]

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