The state military acquisition agency has continued to sign contracts with local firms with a track record of irregularities, making it difficult to stamp out corruptive practices in defense deals, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday.

Rep. Chung Mi-kyung of the Grand National Party said during the parliamentary inspection that since 2006 when the Defense Acquisition Program Administration opened, 16 firms were caught for corruption.

Most of them were alleged to have falsified documents related to the prices of the goods they supplied to the military. She claimed that of the 16 firms, DAPA has continued to sign contracts with 14 firms over 319 projects worth 828 billion won ($690 million).

Meanwhile, GNP Rep. Kim Jang-soo claimed that DAPA has pushed the project to purchase a presidential airplane in a rough-and-ready way.

Kim said that DAPA requested an “excessive” list of specifications for operational capabilities of the plane, which led to a price increase. DAPA has requested that the plane be equipped with the Enhanced GPS/INS (Inertial Navigation System), a radar warning receiver and other defense systems.

“It is problematic to make the plane close to an airborne wartime command post when it is enough to secure a plane for long-distance summit diplomacy,” Kim said.

Kim also pointed out that it limited the number of the aircraft bidding for the project to only two, claiming that the move has sapped the country’s negotiating power. The two bidders are Boeing of the U.S. and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company.

He noted that Lufthansa of Germany has expressed its willingness to join the bidding with a plan to remodel one of its planes to presidential needs.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)