Board of Audit and Inspection: "Impeachment Attempt Against Director Must Stop Immediately... No Consideration of Post-Impeachment Situation" (Comprehensive)

Secretary-General Choi Dallyoung's Urgent Briefing
"Cannot Agree with Claims of Political Neutrality Violation"
"Auditing Current Government Initiatives with the Same Standards"

Choi Dal-young, Secretary General of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), stated on the 2nd, "I earnestly appeal 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-ha. He said, "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 relocation of the presidential office and residence, which were cited as major reasons for the impeachment push. He explained, "There are claims that only a cautionary disposition was issued regarding the presidential office, implying inadequate audits, but that is not the case," adding, "We uncovered corruption among senior officials of the security office, leading to 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 claims 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 countered the claim that the presidential office audit took one year and eight months and was lenient by stating, "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."

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. However, if there is bipartisan agreement, I reiterate that the minutes can be disclosed immediately."

Yonhap News

When asked about the response plan if the opposition party proceeds with the impeachment as scheduled, Secretary General Choi replied, "I believe the impeachment attempt should be withdrawn immediately today and will be resolved, so I am not considering the situation after impeachment at this stage."

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 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 emerged at the meeting, emphasizing that the BAI should reflect on itself and improve to avoid unnecessary suspicions.

In response, the BAI stated, "Although the situation is chaotic regarding what we should do going forward, we must quietly continue our duties," adding, "If we waver, the public will not trust us, so there was an opinion that we must faithfully carry out our responsibilities."

The Democratic Party reported the impeachment motion against BAI Chairman Choi and three prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office command line, including Chief Prosecutor Lee Chang-soo, to the plenary session on the same day. This is the first time an impeachment motion against the BAI chairman has been proposed in the National Assembly, and the motion will be put to a vote at the plenary session on the 4th after being reported on the day.