Board of Audit and Inspection: "Democratic Party's Impeachment Push Against Director Causes Constitutional Dysfunction... Harms the People"

"Nothing More Than Unfair Pressure"

Choi Jae-hae, Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, is taking the oath as a witness at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Board of Audit and Inspection held on the 15th of last month. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the 28th, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) expressed its position regarding the Democratic Party of Korea's decision to hold a party meeting at the National Assembly on the same day to push for the impeachment of Chairman Choi Jae-ha, stating that "this move paralyzes the constitutional functions of the BAI and will ultimately cause significant harm to the public."

In materials distributed that day, the BAI stated, "Since Chairman Choi took office, we have strictly responded to thoroughly audit major national scandals such as the manipulation of national statistics and the killing of public officials in the West Sea incident, aiming to fundamentally restore national order."

It continued, "The push for impeachment against the BAI Chairman, which goes against the Constitution and laws, paralyzes the BAI's unique national function of maintaining public office order to establish national accounting discipline and public service ethics," adding, "Such attempts to undermine the independence and political neutrality of the BAI are nothing more than unjust pressure violating the spirit of the Constitution."

Furthermore, the BAI emphasized, "If the Chairman is impeached, the constitutional functions of the BAI will be paralyzed, causing serious obstacles to the prevention of wasteful use of taxpayers' money and corruption, ultimately resulting in harm to the public," and strongly urged, "We strongly call for the immediate cessation of this unconstitutional and illegal attempt to impeach the BAI Chairman."

Earlier, the Democratic Party announced its plan to push for the impeachment of Chairman Choi, citing inadequate audits related to the relocation of the Presidential Office residence, and intends to report the impeachment motion at the plenary session of the National Assembly scheduled for the 2nd of next month after filing the motion. This is the first time an impeachment motion against the BAI Chairman has been filed in the National Assembly.

In particular, the BAI stated that the grounds for impeachment claimed by the Democratic Party have no basis at all. The BAI said, "The audit of the Presidential Office relocation was conducted strictly and fairly in accordance with laws and principles," adding, "Regarding the submission of materials during the National Assembly audit, we provided maximum support to ensure thorough deliberation by the National Assembly."