Yoon: "No Need for President's Office or Board of Audit and Inspection to Rush or Take Extra Time"

President Yoon "I suppose there might be inquiries related to work"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 6th regarding the opposition's criticism that "the Presidential Office is involved in the Board of Audit and Inspection's (BAI) audit," saying, "I believe I do not even have the time to be involved to that extent."

President Yoon made this remark when a reporter met him on his way to the Yongsan Presidential Office in the morning and pointed out, "There is an opposition claim that the independence of the BAI you mentioned contradicts the text messages exchanged between Yoo Byung-ho, Secretary General of the BAI, and Lee Gwan-seop, Senior Secretary for National Planning at the Presidential Office."

President Yoon said, "I am not sure what kind of messages were exchanged, but the BAI is affiliated with the President," adding, "However, the Constitution and laws stipulate that the Presidential Office cannot interfere with its work. I will look into the exact details of the messages."

He continued, "From what I briefly saw in the news yesterday, since it is also part of the government, I suppose there might have been some inquiries related to the work mentioned in the media reports."

He further stated, "In any case, interfering with the BAI's work is against the law, and I think there is no need to take such risks." He emphasized again, "The independence of the BAI in its duties is guaranteed as a measure for thorough audits, so I believe I do not have the time to be involved to that extent."

Secretary General Yoo was caught by the media sending a text message to Senior Secretary Lee before the Cabinet meeting held the previous morning at the Government Seoul Office, saying, "There will be a proper explanatory statement released today. The intention is to tell people not to talk nonsense."

In response, the BAI distributed an explanatory statement to the press corps, clarifying that the BAI Special Investigation Bureau's "continuous public official inspection" was included in the 2022 annual audit plan approved earlier this year, and that the West Sea shooting incident was classified as a continuous inspection matter, so a separate resolution by the Audit Committee was not necessary.

Additionally, the BAI added, "Reporting that the BAI's audit has the potential for abuse of authority without understanding the BAI's operational principles and the nature of public official inspections is completely untrue. We ask for more careful reporting in the future."