Choi Dal-young, the Secretary-General of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), held an emergency briefing in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to discuss the opposition party’s move to impeach the BAI chairman. He stated that he could not agree with the assertion that political impartiality was violated by conducting political audits of the previous government. He urged that attempts to impeach the head of the independent constitutional body should be ceased immediately.
During the briefing, Choi responded to criticisms that certain audits, such as those concerning the murder of a public official in the West Sea, manipulation of national statistics, and the investigation of former Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Chair Jeon Hyun-hee, were being labeled as politically motivated. He emphasized that such audits are conducted with the same rigorous standards applied to both the current and previous administrations.
Choi clarified that in the case of the West Sea incident, the audits revealed negligence in the government’s duty to protect its citizens and the baseless labeling of the deceased as a defector to North Korea. In the national statistics manipulation audit, Choi noted that discrepancies between apartment price statistics and public perception during the previous administration, along with issues during the process of dismissing the then-director of the statistics bureau, prompted the audits, which uncovered widespread statistical manipulation driven by pressure from the presidential office and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.
Regarding the audit of Jeon Hyun-hee, Choi mentioned that while some reports of misconduct were unsupported, verified instances were included objectively in the audit report. He also defended the impartiality of audits conducted on major events under the current government, such as the mishandling of the Jamboree, national administrative network disruptions, and corruption in the educational sector.
Particularly in the audit concerning the relocation of the presidential office, Choi argued that it was conducted with unprecedented rigor, investigating various allegations of misconduct within the presidential office. Choi countered claims that the audit was lenient by illustrating efforts to hold individuals accountable, including the dismissal and prosecution of implicated officials and demands for criminal sanctions against unqualified subcontractors involved in the relocation.
Choi rejected criticisms regarding the duration of audits, explaining that extensive investigation and fact-checking accounted for the time taken, and emphasized that lingering questions about the relocation process were largely addressed in the audit report. He also mentioned restrictions on releasing certain committee meeting records, which were only withheld following longstanding parliamentary customs and could be disclosed with bipartisan agreement.