Audit Board's 'Statistics Manipulation' Announcement Met with Moon's Rebuttal... Ruling and Opposition Parties Engage in Proxy Battle

Moon Jae-in Government Side "There Was Absolutely No Statistical Manipulation"
Ruling Party "Please 'Just Once'... If True, Abuse of Power"

Amid the audit results from the Board of Audit and Inspection revealing manipulation in major national statistics related to real estate, household income, and employment during the Moon Jae-in administration, the controversy is escalating into a proxy battle between the current and former governments. While the Moon Jae-in administration denies any manipulation of statistics, the ruling party is lending weight to allegations that the Blue House and others exerted pressure to order statistical manipulation at the time.

On the 15th, the Board of Audit and Inspection reported that during the Moon Jae-in administration, there was statistical manipulation over several years in housing prices and income and employment-related statistics due to intervention by the Blue House and others, and requested prosecution investigations into 22 officials from the Moon Jae-in government.

The Board of Audit and Inspection stated that during the Moon Jae-in administration, the Presidential Secretariat and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport directly or indirectly pressured the statistical agencies, including Statistics Korea and the Korea Real Estate Board, to manipulate statistical figures or distort statistical descriptive information, engaging in various illegal acts.

Former President Moon Jae-in is giving a greeting at an event inviting poet Lee Dong-sun, who published the biography "General of the Nation Hong Beom-do," held on the evening of the 17th at Pyeongsan Bookstore. Photo by Yonhap News

In response to the manipulation allegations, former President Moon Jae-in directly refuted the claims of statistical manipulation.

On the 17th, Moon shared on Facebook, "I am sharing the 'Evaluation of Employment and Labor Policies under the Moon Jae-in Government' published on September 14 by the Korea Labor and Society Institute (Chairman Kim Yoo-sun)," posting a link to the report. The report shared by Moon included analyses such as "The employment rate reached record highs of 60.8% in 2017, 60.9% in 2019, and 62.1% in 2022, and the youth (ages 15?29) employment rate also hit record highs of 42.1%, 43.6%, and 46.6%."

Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Society Bang Jeong-gyun also emphasized, "There was absolutely no statistical manipulation." On the 18th, Bang stated on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that "It is true that prior reports were made," but added, "According to Article 27-2, Paragraph 4 of the Statistics Act, in cases where urgent response is needed due to economic crises or market instability, related agencies may make prior reports."

Bang further claimed that the Board of Audit and Inspection deliberately compared KB Market Price and Korea Real Estate Board prices to accuse statistical manipulation. The Board assumed KB Market Price was correct and judged the lower Korea Real Estate Board statistics as manipulated.

Bang said, "Especially in the Board of Audit and Inspection's materials, graphs were compared under the assumption that KB Market Price is the accurate answer, but to make a precise comparison, actual transaction prices should have been included. Actual transaction prices should be compared, but they were not input. This shows intentionality."

He also suggested there might be political motives behind the Board's allegations, saying, "After analyzing the list of 22 people, we found that a significant number were from BH, the Blue House."

Choi Dal-young, the First Deputy Auditor of the Board of Audit and Inspection, is making a presentation on the request for investigation related to the 'Preparation and Utilization Status of Major National Statistics' at the Board of Audit and Inspection's Third Annex in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 15th. Photo by Yonhap News

On the other hand, the ruling party evaluated that the audit results from the Board of Audit and Inspection confirmed the substance of previously unprovable statistical manipulation allegations.

Song Eon-seok, a member of the People Power Party who raised suspicions in 2020 that the Moon Jae-in government manipulated housing price statistics, said on the same radio program, "Due to strong persuasion and pressure from the Blue House and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, it seems inevitable that the data was distorted," adding, "If remarks like 'Our line will all be dead,' or 'Please just let this one slide' are true, this is clearly an abuse of authority and pressure."

Regarding the claim that the difference between KB Market Price and Korea Real Estate Board prices cannot be considered evidence of statistical manipulation, Song said, "When the initially released weekly or preliminary figures differ from the finalized figures, and continuous questioning about why they changed leads to pressure to lower the final figures, that is manipulation. So, saying that the lower Korea Real Estate Board prices compared to KB Market Price is manipulation is not true at all."

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