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[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Civic groups announced that if the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) does not release the audit results on the early shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1 by the end of this month, they will file a criminal complaint with the prosecution for violating the National Assembly Act and other charges.

According to Energy Heungsadan on the 21st, seven civic groups including the Nuclear Policy Alliance and Energy Heungsadan, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Wolseong Headquarters labor union, and residents of the Wolseong area held a press conference on the 20th in front of the BAI office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, claiming, "The quasi-judicial institution BAI has conducted an audit on the early shutdown process of Wolseong Unit 1 for six months but has delayed the announcement while watching the powers that be."

Kang Chang-ho, head of Energy Heungsadan, said, "Every additional month that the perfectly functioning Wolseong Unit 1 is offline costs the public 27 billion KRW," adding, "If the BAI delays the announcement of the audit results until the 31st of this month, we will file a criminal complaint against Chairman Choi Jae-hyung for violating the National Assembly Act and dereliction of duty."

The groups emphasized that the BAI's failure to report the audit results on Wolseong Unit 1, which the National Assembly approved in September last year, is a clear dereliction of duty. According to the law, the BAI must report the audit results to the National Assembly within three months from the date of the audit request. If there are special reasons, the audit period can be extended by two months, but it was already extended once in December last year.

The legally mandated deadline for the announcement ended last month. Civic groups criticize the BAI, which is supposed to oversee the government, for instead watching the ruling power. In response, Chairman Choi said last month, "Compared to past audit requests from the National Assembly, the content of the Wolseong Unit 1 audit is complex," and "I apologize for not meeting the audit deadline."

The civic group 'Facts and Science,' which participated in the protest that day, stated, "Since 1983, Wolseong Unit 1 has safely supplied clean and economical electricity to South Korea's industry and households, and in 2015, it reinforced its safety with an investment of 700 billion KRW, making it one of the world's safest," adding, "The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, who could not find fault with its safety, colluded with KHNP to come up with the absurd reason of lack of profitability."

Earlier, 225 professors belonging to the Professors' Council for Rational Energy Policy (Egyopyeop) also issued a statement on the 18th, saying, "The BAI's failure to report the audit results to the National Assembly within the prescribed period is a serious legal violation," warning, "Chairman Choi could be subject to impeachment under Article 65 of the Constitution."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.