Democratic Party Gyeongnam Committee Criticizes 'Blind' Audit Over Lack of Live Broadcast ... Gyeongnam Province Cites 'Technical Issues'

The Youth Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea's Gyeongnam Provincial Party criticized the recent National Assembly audit of Gyeongsangnam-do last month for not being broadcast online, calling it a "blind audit."

On November 5, the Youth Committee held a press conference in the provincial council's briefing room, stating, "This audit was not just a routine administrative review, but addressed issues that drew national attention, such as Nam Tae-gyun's alleged interference in Gyeongnam provincial administration and suspicions of his brother-in-law's improper hiring. However, it was only viewable on internal TV channels at the provincial government and provincial council, and could not be watched live from anywhere outside."

The Youth Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea's Gyeongnam Provincial Party is holding a press conference criticizing the omission of the live broadcast of the Gyeongsangnam-do national audit. Photo by Lee Seryoung

They continued, "This was a national audit that completely excluded the residents of the province," and argued, "Failing to ensure that residents could observe the process undermines democracy and deprives residents of their rights."

They called on Governor Park Wansu to apologize for the inability to provide a live broadcast of the audit, to come up with concrete measures to prevent a recurrence, and to respond to the suspicions raised during the audit.

The Gyeongsangnam-do provincial government responded, "There were no live broadcasts during the 2017 and 2022 audits either," adding, "Whether or not the audit is broadcast live is decided by the National Assembly, taking into account the circumstances of each institution, and other local governments such as Gangwon and Daegu also did not provide live broadcasts."

They further explained, "On the day of the audit, we prepared for a live broadcast at the request of the National Assembly, but due to issues such as video interruptions, we were unable to proceed. The original recording of the session was submitted to the National Assembly on October 29, the day after the audit, and is now available for anyone to view in the video minutes section of the National Assembly website."

Additionally, they stated, "We will thoroughly investigate the technical issues and plan to supplement our equipment, including replacing devices as necessary."