[2023 National Audit] Controversy Over Targeted Audit Investigation and Poor Performance at Board of Audit and Inspection During Public Officials Corruption Investigation Agency Hearing

During the National Assembly inspection of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA), lawmakers raised numerous questions regarding the Board of Audit and Inspection's (BAI) alleged 'targeted audit'.

Ruling party lawmakers criticized the HCIA's poor investigation performance, but HCIA Chief Kim Jin-wook expressed regret while attributing the cause to the current system, which limits investigation and prosecution targets, and a shortage of personnel.

Kim Jin-wook, Chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, is responding to questions during the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials on the 19th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

At the HCIA National Assembly inspection held on the 19th by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the ruling and opposition parties clashed over the audit of former Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Chairperson Jeon Hyun-hee, following the BAI inspection on the 13th.

The ruling party argued that since the HCIA was established under the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, it should not conduct politically biased investigations, while the opposition urged Chief Kim to expedite the investigation within his remaining three-month term, citing the gravity of the matter.

People Power Party lawmaker Jeon Ju-hye pointed out, "Looking at the past three years, regrettably, the HCIA has ended up targeting only the People Power Party," adding, "They move very quickly on Democratic Party-related complaints and are currently conducting all-out investigations into allegations such as the BAI and Ssangbangwool Group's suspected illicit remittances to North Korea."

In response, Chief Kim rebutted by noting that the two cases for which the HCIA requested prosecution this year both involved figures from the previous administration. Last month, the HCIA requested prosecution from the prosecution for the case involving former Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo, accused of 'coercion of false signatures,' and former Busan Metropolitan City Superintendent of Education Kim Seok-jun, accused of 'special hiring irregularities involving dismissed teachers.'

People Power Party lawmaker Park Hyung-soo, addressing former Chairperson Jeon's claim that the audit against her was an unreasonable targeted audit, said, "According to BAI regulations, notification can be omitted in urgent cases, so what former Chairperson Jeon claims does not seem accurate," emphasizing, "The HCIA must conduct investigations from an objective standpoint."

On the other hand, opposition lawmakers urged swift and thorough investigations.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Yong-jin said, "The HCIA only summoned former Chairperson Jeon for questioning eight months after the first complaint and conducted the first search and seizure in September. This is too slow," adding, "While the HCIA is dragging its feet, the BAI Chairman and Secretary-General, who are suspects, formed an internal task force. This is precisely obstruction of the investigation."

Fellow party member Park Joo-min stated, "The HCIA should act very swiftly according to law and principles," adding, "Those under investigation are fully utilizing their influence. In such cases, the HCIA must make full use of the various legal means available to an investigative agency."

Ruling and opposition lawmakers showed differing views on the HCIA's poor investigation performance.

The ruling party pointed to the fact that all arrest warrants requested by the HCIA were dismissed, questioning the agency's raison d'?tre, while the opposition argued that support is necessary for proper investigations.

People Power Party lawmaker Jang Dong-hyuk criticized, "Including the chief, there are only 19 prosecutors at the HCIA, but the Namyangju branch office, which has 17 prosecutors, received 16,000 cases last year, processed 15,000, and prosecuted most of them," adding, "The HCIA processed 1,200 cases in a year without requesting any prosecution. This is neither due to a lack of prosecutors nor ability. The HCIA has no reason to exist."

According to statistics released by Jang Dong-hyuk's office that day, from March 14 last year, when the HCIA abolished the controversial 'selective registration system' and revised the case handling rules to introduce the 'all-case registration system,' until August 22 this year, the HCIA handled a total of 3,044 cases, of which only 8 were prosecuted and 6 had prosecution requests. Notably, from January to August this year, the HCIA did not file any prosecutions or prosecution requests, disposing of 287 cases as non-prosecution or other measures.

Conversely, Democratic Party lawmaker So Byung-chul defended, "Even setting aside investigative capabilities, the HCIA needs administrative support staff to function as a central administrative agency, but this area has not been staffed at all," adding, "For the brain to work, the limbs must move well. The HCIA is not in that state, so it must feel very unfair to be criticized for not producing results."

Another opposition lawmaker revealed the HCIA staff's significantly lower rates of parental leave and annual leave usage compared to other public institutions.

Chief Kim said, "Currently, there are only 20 administrative staff, so even if employees want to take parental leave, they cannot because it would burden their colleagues," adding, "They cannot even take annual leave because it would cause inconvenience to nearby coworkers." He also mentioned, "A previous research report stated that at least 50 administrative staff are needed."

Meanwhile, when opposition lawmakers continued to criticize the HCIA's inadequate investigation performance, Chief Kim said, "If the HCIA did its job well and requested and obtained 10 arrest warrants against high-ranking officials and prosecuted them, the country would not function," adding, "I apologize that no arrest warrants have been issued, but if there were 10, it would be a big problem," which caused some lawmakers to burst into laughter.