[2020 National Audit] Gyeonggi-do Tired of Audit Data Requests: "Refusal Is True Autonomy"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] # Members of the National Assembly still fail to distinguish between autonomous administrative tasks and state-delegated tasks, and the irrational Gyeonggi-do continues to prepare materials as requested by the assembly members for 5 or 10 years as usual. The requests are not only for Gyeonggi-do data but also extend to all 31 cities and counties within the province. The cities and counties call us the irrational Gyeonggi-do. What power does a provincial government official have to refuse to submit materials claiming they are autonomous administrative tasks? A true local government should start by refusing to provide materials for national audits on autonomous administrative tasks.

This was a post made by an employee on the Gyeonggi-do provincial office bulletin board on the 8th regarding the national audit.

National audits of local governments have existed since the past, and complaints about them are nothing new. However, this year's situation is distinctly different from previous years. Due to the unprecedented spread of the infectious disease COVID-19, the public service sector has faced difficult circumstances over the past year. Recently, tension has escalated as African swine fever reoccurred in Gangwon-do. Last year, there was even an incident where public officials died in the line of duty due to overwork.

Considering these various situations, there are criticisms questioning whether it is appropriate to conduct the national audit this year. Additionally, there are concerns about whether it is proper for the National Assembly to audit local autonomous administrative tasks, which are not state-delegated tasks, under current laws.

One employee strongly criticized the current audit practices, saying, "Either the national audit (National Assembly audit) or the administrative audit (local council administrative audit) should be abolished."

This employee particularly revealed, "The demands for materials from assembly members are serious. Some members request data covering 10 years. There are also members who request data from cities and counties."

Another employee reported, "The enormous requests for materials, as if competing, cause significant budget waste. Requests for absurd materials unrelated to the audit, such as the status of employees' wage garnishments and daycare center operations, are also serious."

This employee lamented, "Some National Assembly members try to scrutinize everything from A to Z about provincial administration. I really don't know what difference there is between them and provincial council members or audit office staff."

Some employees also criticized the union's complacent response to the national audit.

One employee pointed out, "In the past, the union visited the National Assembly before the audit to request that excessive material demands not be made, but it seems that did not happen this year."

This employee added, "In trying to meet the requested materials, I couldn't leave work until 5 a.m. on the 19th, the day of the audit, and had to prepare the Q&A documents. I have to go home, wash up, and then return to work because of the audit."

This year, Gyeonggi-do is undergoing national audits by two committees?the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee and the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee?for the first time in four years. This is the first time since 2016. The Public Administration and Security Committee has conducted annual audits of Gyeonggi-do, but the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee has not audited Gyeonggi-do since 2016.

Meanwhile, as of the morning of the 18th, the number of material requests from these two committees for Gyeonggi-do was counted at 1,920. The provincial government expects the final number of requests to exceed 2,000. Considering that there are 52 members in these two committees, the average number of material requests per member is 37.

Among the 52 members, the assembly member with the highest number of material requests is Choi Chun-sik of the People Power Party (Pocheon Gapyeong-gun), who requested 103 items. Following him is Kwon Young-se of the People Power Party (Seoul Yongsan), who requested 100 items. The third and fourth highest requesters are also members of the People Power Party.

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