Scolding and Humiliating... Old Habits Persist in the National Assembly Audit

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] There are concerns that the National Assembly’s audit, intended to check and monitor the government, is once again being distorted into a ‘public shaming of business leaders.’ This year, business executives are being summoned en masse as usual, but substantive questioning is noticeably lacking. The old habits persist, such as summoning corporate heads to the National Assembly three times despite no particular criminal acts.

According to the National Assembly and the IT industry on the 15th, the National Assembly has summoned a large number of conglomerate heads and CEOs as witnesses for this year’s audit. In particular, there were many summons notices for IT business leaders this year.

Looking at the business leaders who attended this year’s audit, there is talk that the political sphere is trying to tame the IT industry ahead of next year’s presidential election. These include Kim Beom-su, Chairman of Kakao’s Board; Han Seong-sook, CEO of Naver; Park Dae-jun, CEO of Coupang; Kim Kyung-hoon, CEO of Google Korea; Jung Ki-hyun, CEO of Facebook Korea; Yoon Goo, CEO of Apple Korea; and Kim Beom-jun, CEO of Woowa Brothers.

The problem is that although business leaders are repeatedly summoned at every audit, substantive questioning is not taking place. The practice is limited to summoning executives of controversial companies as witnesses to scold or shame them. The main target of this year’s audit was Chairman Kim. If Chairman Kim responds to the witness summons for the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee audit on the 21st, it will be his third appearance at an audit this year.

Like the previous audits by the Political Affairs Committee and the Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Business Committee, the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee is expected to point out issues such as coexistence with small content companies and suspicions of excessive fees by platform companies. However, many predict that the questions and answers will ultimately be repetitive.

Another issue pointed out in this audit is the insistence on summoning only high-ranking executives above the CEO level. In the case of conglomerate heads, they may not be well informed about the detailed aspects of projects pursued by their affiliates, yet they are pressured to respond regardless. For example, during the Industry Committee audit on the 7th, when Chairman Kim was questioned about the affiliate’s entry into the toy and stationery business, he appeared flustered due to lack of detailed knowledge.

Sometimes, questions mix in local constituency complaints or unrelated issues to the standing committee’s agenda. On the 5th, during the Political Affairs Committee audit, Song Jae-ho, a Democratic Party lawmaker representing Jeju, mentioned Kakao Friends’ Jeju-related products and demanded, "It’s fine to sell at the headquarters level, but the corporate income tax should be paid by setting the corporation’s location in Jeju." Lawmaker Kim Byung-wook of the Democratic Party also raised his voice, saying, "Compared to Naver, global expansion is insufficient."

Although the so-called ‘Real-Name System for Witness Applications in National Assembly Audits’ was introduced in 2017 to increase accountability and prevent excessive witness summons, old habits have not disappeared. Rather, some lawmakers abuse this system as a means to showcase their presence.

A business community official criticized, "It seems the essence of the audit is being blurred to the point where it’s hard to tell if it’s a corporate audit or a national audit," adding, "Some level of regulation or criticism is necessary, but it is not right for the political sphere to excessively interfere in corporate management." He expressed concern, saying, "If this kind of public shaming witness attendance continues, the growth momentum of platform companies will inevitably decline."

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