Board of Audit and Inspection says "No basis at all" for allegations of targeted audit aimed at Cheong

Some Media "High-Intensity Audit and Unusual Disclosure"
Board of Audit and Inspection "Regular Audit... Not Unusual at All"
Despite Interpretations of Conflict with Cheongwadae, "No Basis Whatsoever"

Choi Jae-hyung, Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, is adjusting his mask during the plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 25th of last month.

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) strongly denied on the 18th reports by some domestic media that it conducted a high-intensity audit targeting the Blue House and unusually disclosed the results.

In a press release issued that day, the BAI stated, "The 'regular institutional audits of three agencies including the Presidential Secretariat and four presidential advisory committees including the Policy Planning Committee' were routine audits conducted according to the annual audit plan established and disclosed at the beginning of 2020," adding, "There is nothing unusual about this."

The BAI publicly discloses all audit results in full on its website, except for certain content related to national defense and national security.

The BAI emphasized, "This audit result was disclosed on the BAI website just like other audit results," and "It is not an exceptional case that this audit result was disclosed."

Furthermore, the BAI strongly denied political interpretations suggesting that this audit stemmed from a power struggle with the Blue House.

The BAI said, "There is no basis whatsoever for attributing any particular meaning to this audit by linking it to other audit matters."

On the same day, some domestic media reported that the BAI unusually announced the audit results of the presidential advisory committees directly under the president, and that "there are evaluations in political circles that both the audit results and the fact of their disclosure are unprecedented."

Another domestic news outlet reported that regarding this audit, there are remarks such as "even the disclosure itself is unprecedented" and "an unusual audit targeting the Blue House," and that BAI Chairman Choi Jae-hyung's warning of "Blue House, do not interfere" was contained in matters such as the audit of Wolseong Unit 1 and personnel appointments of audit commissioners.

Meanwhile, on the 16th, the BAI disclosed the regular audit reports on the Presidential Secretariat, Presidential Security Service, National Security Office, and four presidential advisory committees including the Policy Planning Committee, National Balanced Development Committee, Job Committee, and Economic, Social and Labor Committee.

This followed the decision to resume institutional operation audits of the Blue House for the first time in 15 years in 2018 and to conduct regular audits every two years. This time, four presidential advisory committees were also included in the audit scope.

As a result, the BAI audit revealed that some chairpersons of presidential advisory committees received monthly remuneration of several million won or more under unclear criteria. It also uncovered that employees of the Presidential Security Service attended external lectures without reporting.

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