Board of Audit and Inspection: "The current government applies the same standards... Stop the attempt to impeach the director immediately"

Secretary-General Choi Dallyoung's Urgent Briefing
"I Do Not Agree with Claims of Political Neutrality Violation"

On the 2nd, Choi Dal-young, Secretary General of the Board of Audit and Inspection, held an emergency briefing at the Board of Audit and Inspection regarding the Democratic Party of Korea's move to impeach Choi Jae-hae, the head of the Board of Audit and Inspection. After reading a statement on the impeachment effort, he greeted the attendees.

Choi Dal-young, Secretary General of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), appealed on the 2nd, "I earnestly urge you to immediately stop the attempt to impeach the head of the BAI, an independent constitutional body."

On the same day, Secretary General Choi held an emergency briefing at the BAI headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, regarding the Democratic Party's push to impeach BAI Chairman Choi Jae-hae, stating, "The BAI regards political neutrality and independence as its highest values and has faithfully carried out its role of checking and monitoring regardless of the government in power."

In particular, Secretary General Choi emphasized, "We are strictly auditing the current government's initiatives by the same standards," and added, "I do not agree with the claim that the BAI violated political neutrality by conducting political audits of the previous administration."

Secretary General Choi also refuted allegations of inadequate audits related to the presidential office and residence relocation, which were cited as major reasons for the impeachment push. He explained, "There are claims of inadequate audits, such as only issuing warnings to the presidential office, but that is not the case," adding, "We uncovered corruption among senior officials of the security office, resulting in dismissal and requests for investigation, and they are currently detained and indicted." Regarding the former first-level secretary who was the overall project manager, he said that responsibility equivalent to disciplinary action for current officials was imposed.

Regarding the claim that companies involved in the presidential office relocation construction were not reported and were given a free pass, he said, "We requested the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to impose sanctions including criminal liability for subcontracting to unqualified companies and name lending by companies involved in extension construction, and legal actions are currently underway." He also rebutted the claim that the presidential office audit took one year and eight months and was lenient, saying, "Extensive investigations and accurate fact-finding took a lot of time." On the criticism that they could not disclose who recommended the residence construction company, he said, "We made every effort and revealed that the managing secretary at the time selected the company, but we could not find out from whom the managing secretary received the recommendation."

On the 2nd, Choi Dal-young, Secretary General of the Board of Audit and Inspection, held an emergency briefing at the Board of Audit and Inspection regarding the Democratic Party of Korea's move to impeach Choi Jae-hae, the head of the Board of Audit and Inspection, and read a statement on the impeachment 추진.

Regarding the issue of not submitting the minutes of the audit committee meeting related to the residence relocation audit, which is cited as a reason for impeachment, Secretary General Choi said, "It was not disclosed simply because of the long-standing practice of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee not to allow access to minutes without bipartisan agreement, but I would like to reiterate that if there is bipartisan agreement, the minutes can be disclosed immediately."

Earlier, on the 29th of last month, BAI Chairman Choi expressed strong regret over the opposition party's impeachment push, calling it a "political impeachment that undermines the foundation of the constitutional order." On the same day, BAI executives held an emergency countermeasure meeting and shared the unfairness of the impeachment push. It was reported that some voices of self-reflection and calls for development emerged at the meeting, emphasizing that the BAI should reflect on itself to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

In the afternoon of the same day, former BAI Chairmen Jeon Yoon-cheol, Kim Hwang-sik, Yang Geon, Hwang Chan-hyun, and Choi Jae-hyung issued a joint statement urging the opposition party to stop pushing for the impeachment of the BAI chairman, saying, "The foundation of the constitutional order should not be shaken for political reasons, and the BAI's constitutional duties must not be interrupted."