"An Audit in This Situation?"... Gyeonggi-do Strongly Opposes National Assembly's Forced Audit

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung is responding to questions from lawmakers during the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of Gyeonggi Province held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office on October 18 last year.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is expressing strong dissatisfaction with the upcoming National Assembly inspection scheduled for next month.

The general consensus is that it makes no sense to conduct an on-site inspection during the unprecedented 'COVID-19 pandemic.' In particular, this year's inspection of Gyeonggi Province will be conducted by two committees: the Public Administration and Security Committee and the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.

Since 2017, inspections were conducted only by the Public Administration and Security Committee, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of standing committees involved has increased to two. The province strongly opposes this, stating that according to the Local Autonomy Act, receiving both the Gyeonggi Provincial Council's administrative audit and the National Assembly's inspection constitutes double auditing. Furthermore, if the inspection must proceed, they have requested the relevant committees to conduct it online rather than on-site.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 24th, this year's National Assembly inspection of Gyeonggi Province is scheduled for the 16th (National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee) and the 20th (National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee) of next month.

The Public Administration and Security Committee conducts inspections of Gyeonggi Province every year. On the other hand, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee conducted an inspection in 2016 but did not conduct any for the past three years until it was added this year. The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee divides its standing members into Group 1 and Group 2 to conduct inspections of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

This is the first time that the convention of conducting an inspection by only one committee has been broken by splitting into groups to conduct inspections.

In response, the Gyeonggi Province public service community and the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Employees' Union are strongly opposing this.

On the 17th, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Employees' Union held a press conference in front of the National Assembly, stating, "Preparing for the inspection amid the prolonged COVID-19 crisis and national disaster situations caused by concentrated heavy rains and typhoon damage in August is too harsh on the employees," and strongly urged the suspension of the inspection.

The public service community has also voiced concerns about this year's National Assembly inspection of Gyeonggi Province.

They point out that it is too harsh to require preparation of inspection materials amid the mounting workload caused by the prolonged COVID-19 situation, concentrated heavy rains, and African Swine Fever (ASF).

Additionally, with the COVID-19 prevention level maintained at Level 2, indoor gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited, raising questions about whether on-site inspections can be properly conducted.

The repeated overlapping inspections every year are also controversial. Gyeonggi Province argues that according to the Local Autonomy Act, it receives administrative audits from the Provincial Council annually, and questions whether it is appropriate for a local government, not a central agency, to be subject to annual inspections, urging reconsideration of the National Assembly inspection.

Consequently, some suggest that if the inspection must be conducted, flexible alternatives such as online inspections rather than on-site ones should be considered.

A provincial official expressed dissatisfaction, saying, "I don't understand why there is talk of inspections during the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis," and added, "I want to ask the lawmakers whether it is right to force local government inspections during this wartime-like COVID-19 response."

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee reviewed whether to conduct an inspection of Gyeonggi Province but ultimately decided not to proceed.

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