"Board of Audit and Inspection Employees Face Criminal Penalties for Political Neutrality Violations"…Opposition Proposes Law to Prevent Political Intervention by Board of Audit and Inspection

Representative Shin Jeong-hoon of the Democratic Party Proposes
Disclosure of Audit Committee Resolutions and Prior Notice of Audit Purposes to Enhance Transparency

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] On the 14th, the Democratic Party of Korea proposed a bill to strengthen the political neutrality of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) and the National Assembly's control over the BAI. The bill includes provisions such as criminal penalties for BAI employees who violate their obligation of political neutrality and requiring the BAI to notify audit subjects of the reasons for the audit.

Democratic Party lawmaker Shin Jeong-hoon officially proposed the amendment to the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, named the "BAI Political Intervention Prevention Act," on the same day. A total of 60 lawmakers, including Shin, participated as sponsors. Since the current government took office, the Democratic Party has pointed out that the BAI has been conducting targeted audits aimed at forcing resignations of agency heads appointed by the previous administration and carrying out targeted audits on major issues of the former government.

The amendment includes imposing an obligation on BAI employees to maintain political neutrality and introducing criminal penalties for violations, making the resolutions of the Audit Committee public, and changing the authority to appoint and dismiss BAI officials from the President to the BAI Chairman. It also requires prior notification of audit reasons to audit subjects, adds government important policy decisions and the propriety of policy objectives to prohibited inspection matters, prohibits abuse of audit authority by the BAI, mandates submission and approval of special inspection plans to the relevant standing committee of the National Assembly, requires reporting audit results to the National Assembly, and requires prior notice of the purpose and reasons when requesting attendance and responses.

Lawmaker Shin explained the purpose of proposing the bill, saying, "The BAI must not be reduced to a mere administrative agency supporting the President's state affairs management. Politically motivated audits and targeted audits seeking scapegoats will suppress public officials' principled and proactive administration, ultimately harming the people. To restore the core values of the BAI?independence in duty and political neutrality?and further fairness and common sense in our society, I proposed the BAI Political Intervention Prevention Act."

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